Of Final Book

1.
INTRODUCTION TO FEA
Introduction:
Finite element analysis was first developed for use in the aerospace and nuclear industries
where the safety of structures is critical. Today, the growth in usage of the method is directly
attributable to the rapid advances in computer technology in recent years. As a result,
commercial finite element packages exist that are capable of solving the most sophisticated
problems, not just in structural analysis, but for a wide range of phenomena such as steady state
and dynamic temperature distributions, fluid flow and manufacturing processes such as injection
molding and metal forming.
FEA consists of a computer model of a material or design that is loaded and analyzed for
specific results. It is used in new product design, and existing product refinement. A company is
able to verify that a proposed design will be able to perform to the client's specifications prior to
manufacturing or construction. Modifying an existing product or structure is utilized to qualify
the product or structure for a new service condition. In case of structural failure, FEA may be
used to help determine the design modifications to meet the new condition.
Mathematically, the structure to be analyzed is subdivided into a mesh of finite sized

elements of simple shape. Within each element, the variation of displacement is assumed to be
determined by simple polynomial shape functions and nodal displacements. Equations for the
strains and stresses are developed in terms of the unknown nodal displacements. From this, the
equations of equilibrium are assembled in a matrix form which can be easily be programmed and
solved on a computer. After applying the appropriate boundary conditions, the nodal
displacements are found by solving the matrix stiffness equation. Once the nodal displacements
are known, element stresses and strains can be calculated.
Within each of these modeling schemes, the system behaves linearly or non-linearly.
Linear systems are far less complex and generally ignore many subtleties of model loading &
behavior. Non-linear systems can account for more realistic behavior such as plastic
deformation, changing loads etc. and is capable of testing a component all the way to failure.
Finite Element Analysis:
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a computer-based numerical technique for calculating

the strength and behavior of engineering structures. It can be used to calculate deflection, stress,
vibration, buckling behavior and many other phenomena. It can be used to analyze either small
or large-scale deflection under loading or applied displacement. It can analyze elastic
deformation, or "permanently bent out of shape" plastic deformation. The computer is required
because of the astronomical number of calculations needed to analyze a large structure. The
power and low cost of modern computers has made Finite Element Analysis available to many
disciplines and companies.
In the finite element method, a structure is broken down into many small simple blocks or
elements. The behavior of an individual element can be described with a relatively simple set of
equations. Just as the set of elements would be joined together to build the whole structure, the
equations describing the behaviors of the individual elements are joined into an extremely large
set of equations that describe the behavior of the whole structure. The computer can solve this
large set of simultaneous equations. From the solution, the computer extracts the behavior of the
individual elements. From this, it can get the stress and deflection of all the parts of the structure.
The stresses will be compared to allowed values of stress for the materials to be used, to see if
the structure is strong enough.
The term "finite element" distinguishes the technique from the use of infinitesimal
"differential elements" used in calculus, differential equations, and partial differential equations.
The method is also distinguished from finite difference equations, for which although the steps
into which space is divided are finite in size, there is little freedom in the shapes that the discreet
steps can take. Finite element analysis is a way to deal with structures that are more complex
than can be dealt with analytically using partial differential equations. FEA deals with complex
boundaries better than finite difference equations will, and gives answers to "real world"
structural problems. It has been substantially extended in scope during the roughly 40 years of its
use.
How is Finite Element Analysis Useful?
Finite Element Analysis makes it possible to evaluate a detailed and complex structure, in
a computer, during the planning of the structure. The demonstration in the computer of the
adequate strength of the structure and the possibility of improving the design during planning can
justify the cost of this analysis work. FEA has also been known to increase the rating of
structures that were significantly over designed and built many decades ago.
In the absence of Finite Element Analysis (or other numerical analysis), development of
structures must be based on hand calculations only. For complex structures, the simplifying
assumptions required to make any calculations possible can lead to a conservative and heavy
design. A considerable factor of ignorance can remain as to whether the structure will be
adequate for all design loads. Significant changes in designs involve risk. Designs will require
prototypes to be built and field tested. The field tests may involve expensive strain gauging to
evaluate strength and deformation.
With Finite Element Analysis, the weight of a design can be minimized, and there can be
a reduction in the number of prototypes built. Field-testing will be used to establish loading on
structures, which can be used to do future design improvements via Finite Element Analysis.
FEA Procedure:
In the real world, no analysis is typical, as there are usually facets that cause it to differ
from others. There is however a main procedure that most FE investigations take. This procedure
is detailed below:
Planning the analysis:

This is arguably the most important part of any analysis, as it helps to ensure the success
of the simulation. Oddly enough, it is usually the one analysts leave out. The purpose of an FE
analysis is to model the behavior of a structure under a system of loads. In order to do so, all
influencing factors must be considered & determined whether their effects are considerable or
negligible on the final result. The degree of accuracy to which any system can be modeled is
very much dependant on the level of planning that has been carried out. Answers to many
questions need to be found. 'Planning an analysis' is dealt with in detail in the 'improving results'
section of this site.
Pre-Processor:
The preprocessor stage in general FE packages involves the following:

 Specifying the title, that is the name of the problem. This is optional but very useful,
especially if a number of design iterations are to be completed on the same base model.
 Setting the type of analysis to be used, e.g. structural, fluid, thermal or electromagnetic,
etc. (sometimes this can only be done by selecting a particular element type).
 Creating the model. The model is drawn in 1D, 2D or 3D space in the appropriate units
(M, mm, in, etc..). The model may be created in the pre-processor, or it can be imported
from another CAD drafting package via a neutral file format (IGES, STEP, ACIS,
Parasolid, DXF, etc.). If a model is drawn in mm for example and the material properties
are defined in SI units, then the results will be out of scale by factors of 10 6. The same
units should be applied in all directions, otherwise results will be difficult to interpret, or
in extreme cases the results will not show up mistakes made during the loading and
restraining of the model.
 Defining the element type, this may be 1D, 2D or 3D, and specific to the analysis type
being carried out (you need thermal elements to do thermal analyses).
Applying a Mesh. Mesh generation is the process of dividing the analysis
continuum into a number of discrete parts or finite elements. The finer the mesh,
the better the result, but the longer the analysis time. Therefore, a compromise
between accuracy & solution speed is usually made. The mesh may be created
manually, such as the one on the right, or generated automatically like the one
below. In the manually created mesh, you will notice that the elements are smaller
at the joint. This is known as mesh refinement, and it enables the stresses to be
captured at the geometric discontinuity (the junction).
 Manual meshing is a long & tedious process for models with any degree of geometric
complication, but with useful tools emerging in pre-processors, the task is becoming
easier. Automatic mesh generators are very useful & popular. The mesh is created
automatically by a mesh engine, the only requirement is to define the mesh density along
the model's edges. Automatic meshing has limitations as regards mesh quality & solution
accuracy. Automatic brick element(hex) meshers are limited in function, but are steadily
improving. Any mesh is usually applied to the model by simply selecting the mesh
command on the preprocessor list of the gui.
 Assigning properties. Material properties (Young’s modulus, Poissons ratio, the density,
& if applicable, coefficients of expansion, friction, thermal conductivity, damping effect,
specific heat etc.) will have to be defined. In addition element properties may need to be
set. If 2D elements are being used, the thickness property is required. 1D beam elements
require area, Ixx, Iyy, Ixy, J, & a direction cosine property which defines the direction of the
beam axis in 3D space. Shell elements, which are 2½D in nature (2D elements in 3D
space), require orientation & neutral surface offset parameters to be defined. Special
elements (mass, contact, spring, gap, coupling, damper etc.) require properties (specific
to the element type) to be defined for their use.
 Apply Loads. Some type of load is usually applied to the analysis model. The loading
may be in the form of a point load, a pressure or a displacement in a stress (displacement)
analysis, a temperature or a heat flux in a thermal analysis & a fluid pressure or velocity
in a fluid analysis. The loads may be applied to a point, an edge, a surface or a even a
complete body. The loads should be in the same units as the model geometry & material
properties specified. In the cases of modal (vibration) & buckling analyses, a load does
not have to be specified for the analysis to run.
 Applying Boundary Conditions. If you apply a load to the model, then in order to stop it
accelerating infinitely through the computer's virtual ether (mathematically known as a
zero pivot), at least one constraint or boundary condition must be applied. Structural
boundary conditions are usually in the form of zero displacements, thermal BCs are
usually specified temperatures, fluid BCs are usually specified pressures. A boundary
condition may be specified to act in all directions (x,y,z), or in certain directions only.
They can be placed on nodes, keypoints, areas or on lines. BC's on lines can be in the
form of symmetric or anti-symmetric type boundary conditions, one allowing in plane
rotations and out of plane translations, the other allowing in plane translations and out of
plane rotations for a given line. The application of correct boundary conditions is critical
to the accurate solution of the design problem. At least one BC has to be applied to every
model, even modal & buckling analyses with no loads applied.
Solution
The FE solver can be logically divided into three main parts, the pre-solver, the
mathematical-engine (solver) & the post-solver. The pre-solver reads in the model created by the
pre-processor and formulates the mathematical representation of the model. All parameters
defined in the pre-processing stage are used to do this, so if you left something out, chances are
the pre-solver will complain & cancel the call to the mathematical-engine. If the model is correct
the solver proceeds to form the element-stiffness matrix for the problem & calls the
mathematical-engine, which calculates the result (displacement, temperatures, pressures, etc.).
The results are returned to the solver & the post-solver is used to calculate strains, stresses, heat
fluxes, velocities, etc, for each node within the component or continuum. All these results are
sent to a results file, which
may be read by the post-processor.
Post-Processor
Here the results of the analysis are read & interpreted. They can be presented in the form
of a table, a contour plot, deformed shape of the component or the mode shapes and natural
frequencies if frequency analysis is involved. Other results are available for fluids, thermal and
electrical analysis types. Most post-processors provide an animation service, which produces an
animation & brings your model to life.
Contour plots are usually the most effective way of viewing results for structural type
problems. Slices can be made through 3D models to facilitate the viewing of internal stress
All post-processors now include the calculation of stress & strains in any of the x, y or z
directions, or indeed in a direction at an angle to the coordinate axes. The principal stresses and
strains may also be plotted, or if required the yield stresses and strains according to the main
theories of failure (Von mises, St. Venant, Tresca etc.). Other information such as the strain
energy, plastic strain and creep strain may be obtained for certain types of analyses.
FEM Vs FEA:
The finite element method is a mathematical method for solving ordinary & elliptic
partial differential equations via a piecewise polynomial interpolation scheme. Put simply, FEM
evaluates a differential equation curve by using a number of polynomial curves to follow the
shape of the underlying & more complex differential equation curve. Each polynomial in the
solution can be represented by a number of points and so FEM evaluates the solution at the
points only. A linear polynomial requires 2 points, while a quadratic requires 3. The points are
known as node points or nodes. There are essentially three mathematical ways that FEM can
evaluate the values at the nodes, there is the non-variational method (Ritz), the residual mehod
(Galerkin) & the variational method (Rayleigh-Ritz).
FEA is an implementation of FEM to solve a certain type of problem. For example if we

were intending to solve a 2D stress problem. For the FEM mathematical solution, we would
probably use the minimum potential energy principle, which is a variational solution. As part of
this, we need to generate a suitable element for our analysis. We may choose a plane stress, plane
strain or an axisymmetric type formulation, with linear or higher order polynomials. Using a
piecewise polynomial solution to solve the underlying differential equation is FEM, while
applying the specifics of element formulation is FEA, e.g. a plane strain triangular quadratic
element.
Conclusion:
The finite element method extremely powerful. However, with comforting contour plots,
one can be easily fooled into thinking that a superior result has been achieved. The quality of the
result is totally dependent on the quality of the analysis model & how accurately it represents the
physical problem being investigated. Remember, careful planning is the key to a successful
analysis. Sometimes an analysis is not required, as some problems have analytical or empirical
solutions, others may be determined using spreadsheets.
INTRODUCTION
DESCRIPTION OF KEYWORD INPUT
The keyword input provides a flexible and logically organized database that is simple to
understand. Similar functions are grouped together under the same keyword. For example, under
the keyword *ELEMENT are included solid, beam, shell elements, spring elements, discrete
dampers, seat belts, and lumped masses.
LS-DYNA User’s Manual is alphabetically organized in logical sections of input data.
Each logical section relates to a particular input. There is a control section for resetting
LSDYNA defaults, a material section for defining constitutive constants, an equation-of-state
section, an element section where element part identifiers and nodal connectivity’s are defined, a
section for defining parts, and so on. Nearly all model data can be input in block form. For
example, consider the following where two nodal points with their respective coordinates and
shell elements with their part identity and nodal connectivity’s are defined:
$
$ DEFINE TWO NODES
$
*NODE
10101 x y z
10201 x y z
$
$ DEFINE TWO SHELL ELEMENTS
$
*ELEMENT_SHELL
10201 pid n1 n2 n3 n4
10301 pid n1 n2 n3 n4
Alternatively, acceptable input could also be of the form:

$
$ DEFINE ONE NODE
$
*NODE
10101 x y z
$
$ DEFINE ONE SHELL ELEMENT
$
*ELEMENT_SHELL
10201 pid n1 n2 n3 n4
$
$ DEFINE ONE MORE NODE
$
*NODE
10201 x y z
$
$ DEFINE ONE MORE SHELL ELEMENT
*ELEMENT_SHELL
10301 pid n1 n2 n3 n4
A data block begins with a keyword followed by the data pertaining to the keyword.
The next keyword encountered during the reading of the block data defines the end of the block
and the beginning of a new block. A keyword must be left justified with the “*” contained in
column one. A dollar sign “$” in column one precedes a comment and causes the input line to be
ignored. Data blocks are not a requirement for LS-DYNA but they can be used to group nodes
and elements for user convenience. Multiple blocks can be defined with each keyword if desired
as shown above. It would be possible to put all nodal points definitions under one keyword
*NODE, or to define one *NODE keyword prior to each node definition. The entire LS-DYNA
input is order independent with the exception of the optional keyword, *END, which defines the
end of input stream. Without the *END termination is assumed to occur when an end-of-file is
encountered during the reading.
Figure I.1 attempts to show the general philosophy of the input organization and how
various entities relate to each other. In this figure the data included for the keyword,
*ELEMENT, is the element identifier, EID, the part identifier, PID, and the nodal points
identifiers, the NID’s, defining the element connectivity: N1, N2, N3, and N4. The nodal point
identifiers are defined in the *NODE section where each NID should be defined just once. A part
defined with the *PART keyword has a unique part identifier, PID, a section identifier, SID, A
material or constitutive model identifier, MID, an equation of state identifier, EOSID, and the
hourglass control identifier, HGID. The *SECTION keyword defines the section identifier, SID,
where a section has an element formulation specified, a shear factor, SHRF, a numerical
integration rule, NIP, and so on. The constitutive constants are defined in the *MAT section
where constitutive data is defined for all element types including solids, beams, shells, thick
shells, seat belts, springs, and dampers. Equations of state, which are used only with certain
*MAT materials for solid elements, are defined in the *EOS section. Since many elements in
LS-DYNA use uniformly reduced numerical integration, zero energy deformation modes may
develop. These modes are controlled numerically by either an artificial stiffness or viscosity
which resists the formation of these undesirable modes. The hourglass control can optionally be
user specified using the input in the *HOURGLASS section.
During the keyword input phase where data is read, only limited checking is performed
on the data since the data must first be counted for the array allocations and then reordered.
Considerably more checking is done during the second phase where the input data is printed out.
Since LS-DYNA has retained the option of reading older non-keyword input files, we print out
the data into the output file D3HSP (default name) as in previous versions of LS-DYNA. An
attempt is made to complete the input phase before error terminating if errors are encountered in
the input. Unfortunately, this is not always possible and the code may terminate with an error
message. The user should always check either output file, D3HSP or MESSAG, for the word
“Error”.
Figure I.1 Organization of the keyword input.
The input data following each keyword can be input in free format. In the case of free
format input the data is separated by commas, i.e.,
*NODE
10101,x ,y ,z
10201,x ,y ,z
*ELEMENT_SHELL
10201,pid,n1,n2,n3,n4
10301,pid,n1,n2,n3,n4
When using commas, the formats must not be violated. An I8 integer is limited to a
maximum positive value of 99999999, and larger numbers having more than eight characters are
unacceptable. The format of the input can change from free to fixed anywhere in the input file.
The input is case insensitive and keywords can be given in either upper or lower case. T HE
ASTERISKS “*” PRECEDING EACH KEYWORD MUST BE IN COLUMN ONE.
To provide a better understanding behind the keyword philosophy

and how the options work, a brief review of some of the more
important keywords is given below.
*AIRBAG
The geometric definition of airbags and the thermodynamic properties for the airbag
inflator models can be made in this section. This capability is not necessarily limited to the
modeling of automotive airbags, but it can also be used for many other applications such as tires
and pneumatic dampers.
*BOUNDARY
This section applies to various methods of specifying either fixed or prescribed boundary
conditions. For compatibility with older versions of LS-DYNA it is still possible to specify some
nodal boundary conditions in the *NODE card section.
*COMPONENT
This section contains analytical rigid body dummies that can be placed within vehicle and
integrated implicitly.
*CONSTRAINED
This section applies constraints within the structure between structural parts. For example,
nodal rigid bodies, rivets, spot welds, linear constraints, tying a shell edge to a shell edge with
failure, merging rigid bodies, adding extra nodes to rigid bodies and defining rigid body joints
are all options in this section.
*CONTACT
This section is divided in to three main sections. The *CONTACT section allows the
user to define many different contact types. These contact options are primarily for treating
contact of deformable to deformable bodies, single surface contact in deformable bodies,
deformable body to rigid body contact, and tying deformable structures with an option to release
the tie based on plastic strain. The surface definition for contact is made up of segments on the
shell or solid element surfaces. The keyword options and the corresponding numbers in previous
code versions are:
STRUCTURED INPUT TYPE ID KEYWORD NAME

1 SLIDING_ONLY
p1 SLIDING_ONLY_PENALTY
2 TIED_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE
3 SURFACE_TO_SURFACE
a3 AUTOMATIC_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE
4 SINGLE_SURFACE
5 NODES_TO_SURFACE
a5 AUTOMATIC_NODES_TO_SURFACE
6 TIED_NODES_TO_SURFACE
7 TIED_SHELL_EDGE_TO_SURFACE
8 TIEBREAK_NODES_TO_SURFACE
9 TIEBREAK_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE
10 ONE_WAY_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE
a 10 AUTOMATIC_ONE_WAY_SURFACE_ TO_SURFACE
13 AUTOMATIC_SINGLE_SURFACE
a 13 AIRBAG_SINGLE_SURFACE
14 ERODING_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE
15 ERODING_SINGLE_SURFACE
STRUCTURED INPUT TYPE ID KEYWORD NAME
16 ERODING_NODES_TO_SURFACE
17 CONSTRAINT_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE
18 CONSTRAINT_NODES_TO_SURFACE
19 RIGID_BODY_TWO_WAY_TO_RIGID_ BODY
20 RIGID_NODES_TO_RIGID_BODY
21 RIGID_BODY_ONE_WAY_TO_RIGID_BODY
22 SINGLE_EDGE
23 DRAWBEAD
The *CONTACT_ENTITY section treats contact between a rigid surface, usually defined as an
analytical surface, and a deformable structure. Applications of this type of contact exist in the
metal forming area where the punch and die surface geometries can be input as VDA surfaces
which are treated as rigid. Another application is treating contact between rigid body occupant
dummy hyper-ellipsoids and deformable structures such as airbags and instrument panels. This
option is particularly valuable in coupling with the rigid body occupant modeling codes
MADYMO and CAL3D. The *CONTACT_1D is for modeling rebars in concrete structure.
*CONTROL
Options available in the *CONTROL section allow the resetting of default global
parameters such as the hourglass type, the contact penalty scale factor, shell element formulation,
numerical damping, and termination time.
*DAMPING
Defines damping either globally or by part identifier.
*DATABASE
This keyword with a combination of options can be used for controlling the output of ASCII
databases and binary files output by LS-DYNA. With this keyword the frequency of writing the
various databases can be determined.
*DEFINE
This section allows the user to define curves for loading, constitutive behaviors, etc.;
boxes to limit the geometric extent of certain inputs; local coordinate systems; vectors; and
orientation vectors specific to spring and damper elements. Items defined in this section are
referenced by their identifiers throughout the input. For example, a coordinate system identifier
is sometimes used on the *BOUNDARY cards, and load curves are used on the *AIRBAG
cards.
*DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID
This section allows the user to switch parts that are defined as deformable to rigid at the
start of the analysis. This capability provides a cost efficient method for simulating events such
as rollover events. While the vehicle is rotating the computation cost can be reduced significantly
by switching deformable parts that are not expected to deform to rigid parts. Just before the
vehicle comes in contact with ground, the analysis can be stopped and restarted with the part
switched back to deformable.
*ELEMENT
Define identifiers and connectivities for all elements which include shells, beams, solids,
thick shells, springs, dampers, seat belts, and concentrated masses in LS-DYNA.
*EOS
This section reads the equations of state parameters. The equation of state identifier,
EOSID, points to the equation of state identifier on the *PART card.
*HOURGLASS
Defines hourglass and bulk viscosity properties. The identifier, HGID, on the
*HOURGLASS card refers to HGID on *PART card.
*INCLUDE
To make the input file easy to maintain, this keyword allows the input file to be split into
sub files. Each subfile can again be split into sub-sub files and so on. This option is beneficial
when the input data deck is very large.
*INITIAL
Initial velocity and initial momentum for the structure can be specified in this section.
The initial velocity specification can be made by *INITIAL_VELOCITY_NODE card or
*INITIAL_VELOCITY cards. In the case of *INITIAL_VELOCITY_NODE nodal identifiers
are used to specify the velocity components for the node. Since all the nodes in the system are
initialized to zero, only the nodes with non-zero velocities need to be specified. The
*INITIAL_VELOCITY card provides the capability of being able to specify velocities using the
set concept or boxes.
*INTEGRATION
In this section the user defined integration rules for beam and shell elements are
specified. IRID refers to integration rule number IRID on *SECTION_BEAM and
*SECTION_SHELL cards
respectively. Quadrature rules in the *SECTION_SHELL and *SECTION_BEAM cards need to

be specified as a negative number. The absolute value of the negative number refers to user
defined integration rule number. Positive rule numbers refer to the built in quadrature rules
within LS-DYNA.
*INTERFACE
Interface definitions are used to define surfaces, nodal lines, and nodal points for which the
displacement and velocity time histories are saved at some user specified frequency. This data
may then used in subsequent analyses as an interface ID in the
*INTERFACE_LINKING_DISCRETE_NODE as master nodes in *INTERFACE_LINKING_
SEGMENT as master segments and in *INTERFACE_LINKING_EDGE as the master edge for
a series of nodes. This capability is especially useful for studying the detailed response of a small
member in a large structure. For the first analysis, the member of interest need only be
discretized sufficiently that the displacements and velocities on its boundaries are reasonably
accurate. After the first analysis is completed, the member can be finely discretized in the region
bounded by the interfaces. Finally, the second analysis is performed to obtain highly detailed
information in the local region of interest. When beginning the first analysis, specify a name for
the interface segment file using the Z=parameter on the LS-DYNA execution line. When starting
the second analysis, the name of the interface segment file created in the first run should be
specified using the L=parameter on the LS-DYNA command line. Following the above
procedure, multiple levels of sub-modeling are easily accommodated. The interface file may
contain a multitude of interface definitions so that a single run of a full model can provide
enough interface data for many component analyses. The interface feature represents a powerful
extension of LS-DYNA’s analysis capabilities.
*KEYWORD
Flags LS-DYNA that the input deck is a keyword deck. To have an effect this must
be the very first card in the input deck. Alternatively, by typing “keyword” on the execute line,
keyword input formats are assumed and the “*KEYWORD” is not required. If a number is
specified on this card after the word KEYWORD it defines the memory size to used in words.
The memory size can also be set on the command line. note that the memory specified on the
execution line overrides memory specified on the *keyword card.
*LOAD
This section provides various methods of loading the structure with concentrated point loads,
distributed pressures, body force loads, and a variety of thermal loadings.
*MAT
This section allows the definition of constitutive constants for all material models
available in LS-DYNA including springs, dampers, and seat belts. The material identifier, MID,
points to the MID on the *PART card.
*NODE
Define nodal point identifiers and their coordinates.
*PART
This keyword serves two purposes.
1. Relates part ID to *SECTION, *MATERIAL, *EOS and *HOURGLASS sections.
2. Optionally, in the case of a rigid material, rigid body inertia properties and initial conditions
can be specified. Deformable material repositioning data can also be specified in this section if
the reposition option is invoked on the *PART card, i.e., *PART_REPOSITION.
*RIGIDWALL
Rigid wall definitions have been divided into two separate sections, _PLANAR and
_GEOMETRIC. Planar walls can be either stationary or moving in translational motion with
mass and initial velocity. The planar wall can be either finite or infinite. Geometric walls can be
planar as well as have the geometric shapes such as rectangular prism, cylindrical prism and
sphere. By default, these walls are stationary unless the option MOTION is invoked for either
prescribed translational velocity or displacement. Unlike the planar walls, the motion of the
geometric wall is governed by a load curve. Multiple geometric walls can be defined to model
combinations of geometric shapes available. For example, a wall defined with the _CYLINDER
option can be combined with two walls defined with the _SPHERICAL option to model
hemispherical surface caps on the two ends of a cylinder. Contact entities are also analytical
surfaces but have the significant
advantage that the motion can be influenced by the contact to other bodies, or prescribed with six
full degrees-of-freedom.
*SET
A concept of grouping nodes, elements, materials, etc., in sets is employed throughout the
LS-DYNA input deck. Sets of data entities can be used for output. So-called slave nodes used in
contact definitions, slaves segment sets, master segment sets, pressure segment sets and so on
can also be defined. The keyword, *SET, can be defined in two ways:
1. Option _LIST requires a list of entities, eight entities per card, and define as many cards as
needed to define all the entities.
2. Option _COLUMN, where applicable, requires an input of one entity per line along with up to
four attribute values which are needed to specify, for example, failure criterion input that is
needed for *CONTACT_CONSTRAINT_NODES_TO_SURFACE .
*TITLE
In this section a title for the analysis is defined.
*USER_INTERFACE
This section provides a method to provide user control of some aspects of the contact
algorithms including friction coefficients via user defined subroutines.
*RESTART
This section of the input is intended to allow the user to restart the simulation by providing
a restart file and optionally a restart input defining changes to the model such as deleting
contacts, materials, elements, switching materials from rigid to deformable, deformable to rigid,
etc.
*RIGID_TO_DEFORMABLE
This section switches rigid parts back to deformable in a restart to continue the event of a
vehicle impacting the ground, which may have been modeled with a rigid wall.
*STRESS_INITIALIZATION
This is an option available for restart runs. In some cases there may be a need for the user
to add contacts, elements, etc., which are not available options for standard restart runs. A full
input containing the additions is needed if this option is invoked upon restart.
SUMMARY OF COMMONLY USED OPTIONS
The following table gives a list of the commonly used keywords related by topic.
Table I.1. Keywords for the most commonly used options.

MATERIAL MODELS
Some of the material models presently implemented are:
• elastic,
• orthotropic elastic,
• kinematic/isotropic plasticity [Krieg and Key 1976],
• thermoelastoplastic [Hallquist 1979],
• soil and crushable/non-crushable foam [Key 1974],
• linear viscoelastic [Key 1974],
• Blatz-Ko rubber [Key 1974],
• high explosive burn,
• hydrodynamic without deviatoric stresses,
• elastoplastic hydrodynamic,
• temperature dependent elastoplastic [Steinberg and Guinan 1978],
• isotropic elastoplastic,
• isotropic elastoplastic with failure,
• soil and crushable foam with failure,
• Johnson/Cook plasticity model [Johnson and Cook 1983],
• pseudo TENSOR geological model [Sackett 1987],
• elastoplastic with fracture,
• power law isotropic plasticity,
• strain rate dependent plasticity,
• rigid,
• thermal orthotropic,
• composite damage model [Chang and Chang 1987a 1987b],
• thermal orthotropic with 12 curves,
• piecewise linear isotropic plasticity,
• inviscid, two invariant geologic cap [Sandler and Rubin 1979, Simo et al, 1988a
1988b],
• orthotropic crushable model,
• Mooney-Rivlin rubber,
• resultant plasticity,
• force limited resultant formulation,
• closed form update shell plasticity,
• Frazer-Nash rubber model,
• laminated glass model,
• fabric,
• unified creep plasticity,
• temperature and rate dependent plasticity,
• elastic with viscosity,
• anisotropic plasticity,
• user defined,
• crushable cellular foams (Neilsen, Morgan, and Krieg 1987),
• urethane foam model with hystersis,
CONTACT-IMPACT INTERFACES
The three-dimensional contact-impact algorithm was originally an extension of the

NIKE2D [Hallquist 1979] two-dimensional algorithm. As currently implemented, one surface of
the interface is identified as a master surface and the other as a slave. Each surface is defined by
a set of three or four node quadrilateral segments, called master and slave segments, on which
the nodes of the slave and master surfaces, respectively, must slide. In general, an input for the
contact-impact algorithm requires that a list of master and slave segments be defined. For the
single surface algorithm only the slave surface is defined and each node in the surface is checked
each time step to ensure that it does not penetrate through the surface. Internal logic [Hallquist
1977, Hallquist et al. 1985] identifies a master segment for each slave node and a slave segment
for each master node and updates this information every time step as the slave and master nodes
slide along their respective surfaces. It must be noted that for general automatic definitions only
parts/materials or three-dimensional boxes have to be given. Then the possible contacting outer
surfaces are identified by the internal logic in LS-DYNA. More than 20 types of interfaces can
presently be defined including:
sliding only for fluid/structure or gas/structure interfaces,
tied,
sliding, impact, friction,
single surface contact,
discrete nodes impacting surface,
discrete nodes tied to surface,
shell edge tied to shell surface,
nodes spot-welded to surface,
tiebreak interface,
One-way treatment of sliding, impact, friction,
box/material limited automatic contact for shells,
automatic contact for shells (no additional input required),
automatic single surface with beams and arbitrary orientations,
surface to surface eroding contact,
node to surface eroding contact,
single surface eroding contact,
Surface-to-surface symmetric constraint method [Taylor and Flanagan 1989],
node to surface constraint method [Taylor and Flanagan 1989],
rigid body to rigid body contact with arbitrary force/deflection curve,
rigid nodes to rigid body contact with arbitrary force/deflection curve,
edge-to-edge,
draw beads.
Interface friction can be used with most interface types. The tied and sliding only interface
options are similar to the two-dimensional algorithm used in LS-DYNA2D [Hallquist 1976,
1978, 1980]. Unlike the general option, the tied treatments are not symmetric; therefore, the
surface that is more coarsely zoned should be chosen as the master surface. When using the one-
way slide surface with rigid materials, the rigid material should be chosen as the master surface.
Type Response
SW1. A restart file is written and LS-DYNA terminates.
SW2. LS-DYNA responds with time and cycle numbers.
SW3. A restart file is written and LS-DYNA continues.
SW4. A plot state is written and LS-DYNA continues.
SW5. Enter interactive graphics phase and real time visualization.
SW7. Turn off real time visualization.
SW8. Interactive 2D rezoner for solid elements and real time visualization.
SW9. Turn off real time visualization (for option SW8).
SWA. Flush ASCII file buffers.
When LS-DYNA terminates, all scratch files are destroyed: the restart file, plot files, and high-
speed printer files remain on disk. Of these, only the restart file is needed to continue the
interrupted analysis.
A major reorganization of LS-DYNA has led to a version using double precision throughout
the full program. As memory and disk space of the computers is less of a
where
inf = input file (user specified)
otf = high speed printer file (default=D3HSP)
ptf = binary plot file for graphics (default=D3PLOT)
dpf = dump file for restarting (default=D3DUMP). This file is written at the end of
every run and during the run as requested in the input. To stop the generation of
this file set the file name to NODUMP.
thf = binary plot file for time histories of selected data (default=D3THDT)
xtf = binary plot file for time extra data (default-XTFILE)
tpf = optional temperature file (TOPAZ3D plotfile)
rrd = running restart dump file (default=RUNRSF)
sif = stress initialization file (user specified)
jif = optional JOY interface file
iff = interface force file (user specified)
isf1 = interface segment save file to be created (user specified)
isf2 = existing interface segment save file to be used (user specified)
rlf = binary plot file for dynamic relaxation (default=D3DRFL)
efl = echo file containing optional input echo with or without node/element data
root = root file name for general print option
scl = scale factor for binary file sizes (default=7)
cpu = cpu limit in seconds, applies to total calculation not just cpu from a restart
kill = if LS-DYNA encounters this file name it will terminate with a restart file
(default=D3KIL)
vda = VDA/IGES database for geometrical surfaces
c3d = CAL3D input file
nwds = Number of words to be allocated. On engineering workstations a word is
usually 32bits. This number overwrites the memory size specified on the
*KEYWORD card at the beginning of the input deck.
ncpu = Overrides NCPU and CONST defined in *CONTROL_PARALLEL. A positive
value sets CONST=2 and a negative values sets CONST=1. See
*CONTROL_PARALLEL for an explanation of these parameters.
npara = Overrides PARA defined in *CONTROL_PARALLEL.
time = Overrides ENDTIM defined in *CONTROL_TERMINATION.
ncycle = Overrides ENDCYC defined in *CONTROL_TERMINATION.
In order to avoid undesirable or confusing results, each LS-DYNA run should be

performed in a separate directory. If rerunning a job in the same directory, old files should first
be removed or renamed to avoid confusion since the possibility exists that the binary database
may contain results from both the old and new run.
By including KEYWORD anywhere on the execute line or instead if *KEYWORD is

the first card in the input file, the keyword formats are expected; otherwise, the older structured
input file will be expected.
To run a coupled thermal analysis the command COUPLE must be in the execute line.
Including the word THERMAL in the execution line may run a thermal only analysis.
The INIT (or sw1. can be used instead) command on the execution line causes the
calculation to run just one cycle followed by termination with a full restart file. No editing of the
input deck is required. The calculation can then be restarted with or without any additional input.
Sometimes this option can be used to reduce the memory on restart if the required memory is
given on the execution line and is specified too large in the beginning when the amount of
required memory is unknown. Generally, this option would be used at the beginning of a new
calculation.
If the word MEMORY is found anywhere on the execution line and if it is not set via
(=nwds) LS-DYNA will give the default size of memory, request, and then read in the desired
memory size. This option is necessary if the default value is insufficient memory and termination
occurs as a result. Occasionally, the default value is too large for execution and this option can
be used to lower the default size. Memory can also be specified on the *KEYWORD card.
MESH GENERATION
LS-DYNA is designed to operate with a variety of commercial pre-processing packages.

Currently, direct support is available from TRUEGRID 1, PATRAN, FEMB, HYPERMESH, and
MEDINA. Several third-party translation programs are available for PATRAN and IDEAS.
Alternately, the pre-processor LS-INGRID [LSTC Report 1019] is available from LSTC
and is specialized to LS-DYNA. Some of the capabilities available in LS-INGRID are:
Complete support for all control parameters, loads and material types,
Mass property calculations,
Importing models from other sources (TRUEGRID, PATRAN, IDEAS, IGES and
NASTRAN formats),
Interactive viewing and graphical inspection of boundary conditions, etc.,
Model editing,
General purpose mesh generation,
Importing LS-DYNA and DYNA3D models in a variety of older formats,
Complex surface treatment including NURB surfaces,
Parametric modeling.
Capabilities specialized to automotive applications:

Airbag folding and inspection,
Occupant positioning,
Seat belt positioning (both beam and shells),
Merging of occupants, airbags and belts with car models.
LS-PREPOST
LS-PREPOST processes output from LS-DYNA. LS-PREPOST reads the binary plot
files generated by LS-DYNA and plots contours, fringes, time histories, and deformed shapes.
Color contours and fringes of a large number of quantities may be interactively plotted on
meshes consisting of plate, shell, and solid type elements. LS-PREPOST can compute a variety
of strain measures, reaction forces along constrained boundaries, and momenta. LS-PREPOST is
operational on the CRAY, SUN, DEC, IBM RS6000, and SGI, HP and PC computers.
MATERIAL
LS-DYNA has historically referenced materials by type identifiers. Below these

identifiers are given with the corresponding keyword name. The numbers in brackets identify the
element formulations for which the material model is implemented:
0 - Solids,
1H - Hughes-Liu beam,
1B - Belytschko resultant beam,
1I - Belytschko integrated solid and tubular beams,
1T - Truss,
1D - Discrete beam,
1SW - Spotweld beam,
2 - Shells,
3 - Thick shells.
4 - Special airbag element.
5 - SPH element.
*MAT_ADD_EROSION
*MAT_ADD_THERMAL_EXPANSION
*MAT_NONLOCAL
TYPE 1: *MAT_ELASTIC_(OPTION} [0,1H,1B,1I,1T,2,3,5]

TYPE 2: *MAT_OPTIONTROPIC_ELASTIC [0,2,3]
TYPE 3: *MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC [0,1H,1I,1T,2,3,5]
TYPE 4: *MAT_ELASTIC_PLASTIC_THERMAL [0,1H,2,3]
TYPE 5: *MAT_SOIL_AND_FOAM [0]
TYPE 6: *MAT_VISCOELASTIC [0,1H,5]
TYPE 7: *MAT_BLATZ-KO_RUBBER [0,2]
TYPE 8: *MAT_HIGH_EXPLOSIVE_BURN [0,5]
TYPE 9: *MAT_NULL [0,1,2,5]
TYPE 10: *MAT_ELASTIC_PLASTIC_HYDRO_{OPTION} [0,5]
TYPE 11: *MAT_STEINBERG [0,5]
TYPE 11: *MAT_STEINBERG_LUND [0,5]
TYPE 12: *MAT_ISOTROPIC_ELASTIC_PLASTIC [0,2,3]
TYPE 13: *MAT_ISOTROPIC_ELASTIC_FAILURE [0]
TYPE 14: *MAT_SOIL_AND_FOAM_FAILURE [0,5]
TYPE 15: *MAT_JOHNSON_COOK [0,2,3,5]
TYPE 16: *MAT_PSEUDO_TENSOR [0,5]
TYPE 17: *MAT_ORIENTED_CRACK [0]
TYPE 18: *MAT_STRAIN_RATE_DEPENDENT_PLASTICITY [0,2,3,5] 20: *MAT_RIGID [0,1H,1B,1T,2,3]
TYPE 21: *MAT_ORTHOTROPIC_THERMAL [0,2,3]
TYPE 22: *MAT_COMPOSITE_DAMAGE [0,2,3]
TYPE 23: *MAT_TEMPERATURE_DEPENDENT_ORTHOTROPIC [0,2,3]
TYPE 24: *MAT_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY [0,1H,2,3,5]
TYPE 25: *MAT_GEOLOGIC_CAP_MODEL [0,5]
TYPE 26: *MAT_HONEYCOMB [0]
TYPE 27: *MAT_MOONEY-RIVLIN_RUBBER [0,2]
TYPE 28: *MAT_RESULTANT_PLASTICITY [1B,2]
TYPE 29: *MAT_FORCE_LIMITED [1B]
TYPE 30: *MAT_SHAPE_MEMORY [0,5]
TYPE 31: *MAT_FRAZER_NASH_RUBBER_MODEL [0]
TYPE 32: *MAT_LAMINATED_GLASS [2,3]
TYPE 33: *MAT_BARLAT_ANISOTROPIC_PLASTICITY [0,2,3]
TYPE 33: *MAT_BARLAT_YLD96 [2,3]
TYPE 34: *MAT_FABRIC [4]

TYPE 35: *MAT_PLASTIC_GREEN-NAGHDI_RATE [0,5]
TYPE 36: *MAT_3-PARAMETER_BARLAT [2,5]
TYPE 37: *MAT_TRANSVERSELY_ANISOTROPIC_ELASTIC_PLASTIC [2,3]
TYPE 38: *MAT_BLATZ-KO_FOAM [0,2]
TYPE 39: *MAT_FLD_TRANSVERSELY_ANISOTROPIC [2,3]
TYPE 40: *MAT_NONLINEAR_ORTHOTROPIC [2]
TYPE 41-50: *MAT_USER_DEFINED_MATERIAL_MODELS
TYPE 51: *MAT_BAMMAN [0,2,3,5]
TYPE 52: *MAT_BAMMAN_DAMAGE [0,2,3,5]
TYPE 53: *MAT_CLOSED_CELL_FOAM [0]
TYPE 54-55: *MAT_ENHANCED_COMPOSITE_DAMAGE [2]
TYPE 57: *MAT_LOW_DENSITY_FOAM [0,5]
TYPE 58: *MAT_LAMINATED_COMPOSITE_FABRIC [2,3]
TYPE 59: *MAT_COMPOSITE_FAILURE_OPTION_MODEL [0,2]
TYPE 60: *MAT_ELASTIC_WITH_VISCOSITY [0,2,5]
TYPE 61: *MAT_KELVIN-MAXWELL_VISCOELASTIC [0,5]
TYPE 62: *MAT_VISCOUS_FOAM [0]
TYPE 63: *MAT_CRUSHABLE_FOAM [0,5]
TYPE 64: *MAT_RATE_SENSITIVE_POWERLAW_PLASTICITY [0,2,3,5]
TYPE 65: *MAT_MODIFIED_ZERILLI_ARMSTRONG [0,2,5]
TYPE 66: *MAT_LINEAR_ELASITC_DISCRETE_BEAM
TYPE 67: *MAT_NONLINEAR_ELASITC_DISCRETE_BEAM
TYPE 68: *MAT_NONLINEAR_PLASITC_DISCRETE_BEAM
TYPE 69: *MAT_SID_DAMPER_DISCRETE_BEAM
TYPE 70: *MAT_HYDAULIC_GAS_DAMPER_DISCRETE_BEAM
TYPE 71: *MAT_CABLE_DISCRETE_BEAM
TYPE 72: *MAT_CONCRETE_DAMAGE [0,5]
TYPE 73: *MAT_LOW_DENSITY_VISCOUS_FOAM [0]
TYPE 74: *MAT_ELASTIC_SPRING_DISCRETE_BEAM
TYPE 75: *MAT_BILKHU/DUBOIS_FOAM [0,5]
TYPE 76: *MAT_GENERAL_VISCOELASTIC [0,2,5]
TYPE 77: *MAT_HYPERELASTIC_RUBBER [0,5]
TYPE 77: *MAT_OGDEN_RUBBER [0]
TYPE 78: *MAT_SOIL_CONCRETE [0]
TYPE 79: *MAT_HYSTERETIC_SOIL [0,5]
TYPE 80: *MAT_RAMBERG-OSGOOD [0]
TYPE 81: *MAT_PLASTICITY_WITH_DAMAGE [2,3]
TYPE 83: *MAT_FU_CHANG_FOAM [0,5]
TYPE 84: *MAT_WINFRITH_CONCRETE [0]
TYPE 84: *MAT_WINFRITH_CONCRETE_REINFORCEMENT [0]
TYPE 86: *MAT_ORTHOTROPIC_VISCOELASTIC [2]
TYPE 87: *MAT_CELLULAR_RUBBER [0,5]
TYPE 88: *MAT_MTS [0,2,5]
TYPE 89: *MAT_PLASTICITY_POLYMER [2]
TYPE 90: *MAT_ACOUSTIC [0]
TYPE 91: *MAT_SOFT_TISSUE_{OPTION} [0,2]
TYPE 93: *MAT_ELASTIC_6DOF_SPRING_DISCRETE_BEAM
TYPE 94: *MAT_INELASTIC_SPRING_DISCRETE_BEAM
TYPE 95: *MAT_INELASTC_6DOF_SPRING_DISCRETE_BEAM
TYPE 96: *MAT_BRITTLE_DAMAGE [0]
TYPE 97: *MAT_GENERAL_JOINT_DISCRETE_BEAM
TYPE 98: *MAT_SIMPLIFIED_JOHNSON_COOK [0,1H,1B,1T,2,3]
TYPE 99: *MAT_SIMPLIFIED_JOHNSON_COOK_ORTHOTROPIC_DAMAGE
TYPE 100: *MAT_SPOTWELD_{OPTION} [1SW]
TYPE 101: *MAT_GEPLASTIC_SRATE2000a [2]
TYPE 102: *MAT_INV_HYPERBOLIC_SIN [0]
TYPE 103: *MAT_ANISOTROPIC_VISCOPLASTIC [0,2]
TYPE 103: *MAT_ANISOTROPIC_PLASTIC
TYPE 104: *MAT_DAMAGE_1 [0,2]

TYPE 106: *MAT_ELASTIC_VISCOPLASTIC_THERMAL [0,2]
TYPE 110: *MAT_JOHNSON_HOLMQUIST_CERAMICS [0]
TYPE 111: *MAT_JOHNSON_HOLMQUIST_CONCRETE [0]
TYPE 113: *MAT_TRIP
TYPE 112: *MAT_FINITE_ELASTIC_STRAIN_PLASTICITY [0,5]
TYPE 114: *MAT_LAYERED_LINEAR_PLASTICITY [2,3]
TYPE 115: *MAT_UNIFIED_CREEP [0,5]
TYPE 116: *MAT_COMPOSITE_LAYUP [2]
TYPE 117: *MAT_COMPOSITE_MATRIX [2]
TYPE 118: *MAT_COMPOSITE_DIRECT [2]
TYPE 119: *MAT_GENERAL_NONLINEAR_6DOF_DISCRETE_BEAM
TYPE 120: *MAT_GURSON [0,2]
TYPE 120: *MAT_GURSON_JC [0,2]
TYPE 120: *MAT_GURSON_RCDC [0,2]
TYPE 122: *MAT_HILL_3RC [2]
TYPE 123: *MAT_MODIFIED_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY [2,3]
TYPE 124: *MAT_PLASTICITY_COMPRESSION_TENSION [0,5]
TYPE 126: *MAT_MODIFIED_HONEYCOMB [0]
TYPE 127: *MAT_ARRUDA_BOYCE_RUBBER [0,5]
TYPE 128: *MAT_HEART_TISSUE [0]
TYPE 129: *MAT_LUNG_TISSUE [0]
TYPE 130: *MAT_SPECIAL_ORTHOTROPIC [2]
TYPE 131: *MAT_ISOTROPIC_SMEARED_CRACK
TYPE 132: *MAT_ORTHOTROPIC_SMEARED_CRACK
TYPE 133: *MAT_BARLAT_YLD2000
TYPE 139: *MAT_MODIFIED_FORCE_LIMITED [1B]
TYPE 140: *MAT_VACUUM [0]
TYPE 141: *MAT_RATE_SENSITIVE_POLYMER
TYPE 142: *MAT_TRANSVERSELY_ANISOTROPIC_CRUSHABLE_FOAM [0]
TYPE 143: *MAT_WOOD [0]
TYPE 144: *MAT_PITZER_CRUSHABLE FOAM [0]
TYPE 103: *MAT_ANISOTROPIC_VISCOPLASTIC [0,2]
TYPE 103: *MAT_ANISOTROPIC_PLASTIC
TYPE 106: *MAT_ELASTIC_VISCOPLASTIC_THERMAL [0,2]
TYPE 110: *MAT_JOHNSON_HOLMQUIST_CERAMICS [0]
TYPE 111: *MAT_JOHNSON_HOLMQUIST_CONCRETE [0]
TYPE 113: *MAT_TRIP
TYPE 112: *MAT_FINITE_ELASTIC_STRAIN_PLASTICITY [0,5]
TYPE 114: *MAT_LAYERED_LINEAR_PLASTICITY [2,3]
TYPE 115: *MAT_UNIFIED_CREEP [0,5]
TYPE 116: *MAT_COMPOSITE_LAYUP [2]
TYPE 117: *MAT_COMPOSITE_MATRIX [2]
TYPE 118: *MAT_COMPOSITE_DIRECT [2]
TYPE 120: *MAT_GURSON [0,2]
TYPE 120: *MAT_GURSON_JC [0,2]
TYPE 120: *MAT_GURSON_RCDC [0,2]
TYPE 122: *MAT_HILL_3RC [2]
TYPE 123: *MAT_MODIFIED_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY [2,3]
TYPE 124: MAT_PLASTICITY_COMPRESSION_TENSION [0,5]
TYPE 126: *MAT_MODIFIED_HONEYCOMB [0]
TYPE 127: *MAT_ARRUDA_BOYCE_RUBBER [0,5]
TYPE 128: *MAT_HEART_TISSUE [0]
TYPE 129: *MAT_LUNG_TISSUE [0]
TYPE 130: *MAT_SPECIAL_ORTHOTROPIC [2]
TYPE 131: *MAT_ISOTROPIC_SMEARED_CRACK

TYPE 132: *MAT_ORTHOTROPIC_SMEARED_CRACK
TYPE 133: *MAT_BARLAT_YLD2000
TYPE 139: *MAT_MODIFIED_FORCE_LIMITED [1B]
TYPE 140: *MAT_VACUUM [0]
TYPE 141: *MAT_RATE_SENSITIVE_POLYMER
TYPE 142: *MAT_TRANSVERSELY_ANISOTROPIC_CRUSHABLE_FOAM [0]
TYPE 143: *MAT_WOOD [0]
TYPE 144: *MAT_PITZER_CRUSHABLE FOAM [0]
TYPE 197: *MAT_SEISMIC_ISOLATOR
TYPE 198: *MAT_JOINTED_ROCK
For the discrete (type 6) beam elements, which are used to model complicated dampers
and multi-dimensional spring-damper combinations, the following material types are available:
TYPE 66: *MAT_LINEAR_ELASTIC_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]

TYPE 67: *MAT_NONLINEAR_ELASTIC_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]
TYPE 68: *MAT_NONLINEAR_PLASTIC_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]
TYPE 69: *MAT_SID_DAMPER_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]
TYPE 70: *MAT_HYDRAULIC_GAS_DAMPER_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]
TYPE 71: *MAT_CABLE_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]
TYPE 74: *MAT_ELASTIC_SPRING_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]
TYPE 93: *MAT_ELASTIC_6DOF_SPRING_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]
TYPE 94: *MAT_INELASTIC_SPRING_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]
TYPE 95: *MAT_INELASTIC_6DOF_SPRING_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]
TYPE 119: *MAT_GENERAL_NONLINEAR_6DOF_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]
TYPE 121: *MAT_GENERAL_NONLINEAR_1DOF_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]
TYPE 146: *MAT_1DOF_GENERALIZED_SPRING [1D]
TYPE 196: *MAT_GENERAL_SPRING_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]
For the discrete springs and dampers thirteen material types are available. In the
structured input separate type numbers are assigned to this element class.
TYPE 1: *MAT_SPRING_ELASTIC
TYPE 2: *MAT_DAMPER_VISCOUS
TYPE 3: *MAT_SPRING_ELASTOPLASTIC
TYPE 4: *MAT_SPRING_NONLINEAR_ELASTIC
TYPE 5: *MAT_DAMPER_NONLINEAR_VISCOUS
TYPE 6: *MAT_SPRING_GENERAL_NONLINEAR
TYPE 7: *MAT_SPRING_MAXWELL
TYPE 8: *MAT_SPRING_INELASTIC
TYPE 13: *MAT_SPRING_TRILINEAR_DEGRADING
TYPE 14: *MAT_SPRING_SQUAT_SHEARWALL
TYPE 15: *MAT_SPRING_MUSCLE
For the seatbelts one material is available. No type numbers were used for this material
type:
*MAT_SEATBELT
For incompressible CFD analysis, or for coupled incompressible fluid-structure

interaction problems, the *MAT_CFD_OPTION keyword may be used to specify fluid
properties. The fluid properties may be defined only for solid and shell elements.
TYPE 150: *MAT_CFD_OPTION

For thermal materials in a coupled structural/thermal or thermal only analysis, six
materials are available. These materials are related to the structural material via the
*PART card. Thermal materials are defined only for solid and shell elements. In the structured
input separate type numbers are assigned to the thermal property definitions.
*MAT_THERMAL_OPTION
TYPE 1: *MAT_THERMAL_ISOTROPIC
TYPE 2: *MAT_THERMAL_ORTHOTROPIC
TYPE 3: *MAT_THERMAL_ISOTROPIC_TD
TYPE 4: *MAT_THERMAL_ORTHOTROPIC_TD
TYPE 5: *MAT_THERMAL_ISOTROPIC_PHASE_CHANGE
TYPE 6: *MAT_THERMAL_ISOTROPIC_TD_LC
TYPE 11: *MAT_THERMAL_USER_DEFINED
In the table on the following page, a list of the available material models and the
applicable element types are given. Some materials include strain rate sensitivity, failure,
equations of state, and thermal effects and this is also noted. General applicability of the
materials to certain kinds of behavior is suggested in the last column.
An additional option _TITLE may be appended to all the *MAT keywords. If this
option is used then an additional line is read for each section in 80a format which can be used
todescribe the material. At present LS-DYNA does make use of the title. Inclusion of titles
givesgreater clarity to input decks.
MAT_ELASTIC_{OPTION}
This is Material Type 1. This is an isotropic elastic material and is available for beam, shell, and
solid elements in LS-DYNA. A specialization of this material allows the modeling of fluids.
Options include:
*MAT_ELASTIC or MAT_001
*MAT_ELASTIC_FLUID or MAT_001_FLUID
The fluid option is valid for solid elements only.
Define the following card for all options:
Card Format
MAT_OPTION TROPIC_ELASTIC
This is Material Type 2. This material is valid for modeling the elastic-orthotropic behavior of
solids, shells, and thick shells. An anisotropic option is available for solid elements. For
orthotropic solids and isotropic frictional damping is available.
Options include:
ORTHO
ANISO
such that the keyword cards appear:

MAT_ORTHOTROPIC_ELASTIC or MAT_002 (4 cards follow)
MAT_ANISOTROPIC_ELASTIC or MAT_002_ANIS (5 cards follow)
Card Format of Cards 1 and 2 for the ORTHO option.
Card Format of Cards 1, 2, and 3 for the ANISO option.

Card Format of Cards 3/4 and 4/5 for the ORTHO/ANISO options.
VARIABLE DESCRIPTION
MID Material identification. A unique number or label not exceeding 8

characters must be specified.
RO Mass density.
Define for the ORTHO option only:
EA Ea, Young’s modulus in a-direction.
EB Eb, Young’s modulus in b-direction.
EC Ec, Young’s modulus in c-direction (nonzero value required but not used
for shells).
PRBA ba, Poisson’s ratio ba.
PRCA ca, Poisson’s ratio ca (solids only).
PRCB cb, Poisson’s ratio cb (solids only).
GAB Gab, shear modulus ab.
GBC Gbc, shear modulus bc.
GCA Gca, shear modulus ca.
Due to symmetry define the upper triangular Cij’s for the ANISO option only:
C11 The 1,1 term in the 6 6 anisotropic constitutive matrix. Note that 1
corresponds to the a material direction
C12 The 1,2 term in the 6 6 anisotropic constitutive matrix. Note that
2corresponds to the b material direction
..
..
..
C66 The 6,6 term in the 6 6 anisotropic constitutive matrix.
Define for both options:
AOPT Material axes option, see Figure 23.2.2.

EQ. 0.0: locally orthotropic with material axes determined by
element nodes as shown in Figure 23.2.2. Nodes 1, 2, and 4 of an
element are identical to the nodes used for the definition of a
coordinate system as by *DEFINE_COORDINATE_NODES.
EQ. 1.0: locally orthotropic with material axes determined by a

point in space and the global location of the element center; this is
the a-direction. This option is for solid elements only.
EQ. 2.0: globally orthotropic with material axes determined by

vectors defined below, as with *DEFINE_COORDINATE_
VECTOR.
EQ. 3.0: locally orthotropic material axes determined by rotating

the material axes about the element normal by an angle, BETA,
from a line in the plane of the element defined by the cross product
of the vector v with the element normal. The plane of a solid
element is the midsurface between the inner surface and outer
surface defined by the first four nodes and the last four nodes of the
connectivity of the element, respectively.
EQ. 4.0: locally orthotropic in cylindrical coordinate system with

the material axes determined by a vector v, and an originating point,
P, which define the centerline axis. This option is for solid
elements only.
G Shear modulus for frequency independent damping. Frequency

independent damping is based of a spring and slider in series. The
critical stress for the slider mechanism is SIGF defined below. For the
best results, the value of G should be 250-1000 times greater than SIGF.
This option applies only to solid elements.
SIGF Limit stress for frequency independent, frictional, damping.
XP YP ZP Define coordinates of point p for AOPT = 1 and 4.
A1 A2 A3 Define components of vector a for AOPT = 2.
MACF Material axes change flag for brick elements:

EQ.1: No change, default,
EQ.2: switch material axes a and b,
EQ.3: switch material axes a and c,
EQ.4: switch material axes b and c.
V1 V2 V3 Define components of vector v for AOPT = 3 and 4.
D1 D2 D3 Define components of vector d for AOPT = 2:
D1 D2 D3 Define components of vector d for AOPT = 2:
BETA Material angle in degrees for AOPT = 3, may be overridden on the

element card, see *ELEMENT_SHELL_BETA or *ELEMENT_
SOLID_ORTHO.
REF Use reference geometry to initialize the stress tensor. The reference
geometry is defined by the keyword: *INITIAL_FOAM_
REFERENCE_GEOMETRY (see there for more details).
EQ.0.0: off,
EQ.1.0: on.
The procedure for describing the principle material directions is explained for solid and shell
elements for this material model and other anisotropic materials. We will call the material
direction the a-b-c coordinate system. The AOPT options illustrated in Figure 23.2.2 can define
the a-b-c system for all elements of the parts that use the material, but this is not the final
material direction. There a-b-c system defined by the AOPT options may be offset by a final
rotation about the c-axis. The offset angle we call BETA.
For solid elements, the BETA angle is specified in one of two ways. When using AOPT=3, the
BETA parameter defines the offset angle for all elements that use the material. The BETA
parameter has no meaning for the other AOPT options. Alternatively, a BETA angle can be
defined for individual solid elements as described in remark 4 for*ELEMENT_SOLID_ORTHO.
The beta angle by the ORTHO option is available for all values of AOPT, and it overrides the
BETA angle on the *MAT card for AOPT=3.
The directions determined by the material AOPT options may be overridden for individual
elements as described in remark 2 for *ELEMENT_SOLID_ORTHO. However, be aware that
for materials with AOPT=3, the final a-b-c system will be the system defined on the element
card rotated about c-axis by the BETA angle specified on the *MAT card.
There are two fundamental differences between shell and solid element orthotropic
materials.First, the c-direction is always normal to a shell element such that the a-direction and b
directions are within the plane of the element. Second, for most anisotropic materials,
shellelements may have unique fiber directions within each layer through the thickness of the
element so that a layered composite can be modeled with a single element.
Because shell elements have their c-axes defined by the element normal, AOPT=1 and AOPT=4
are not available for shells. Also, AOPT=2 requires only the vector a be defined since d is not
used. The shell procedure projects the inputted a-direction onto each element surface.
Similar to solid elements, the a-b-c direction determined by AOPT is then modified by a rotation
about the c-axis which we will call For those materials that allow a unique rotation angle for
each integration point through the element thickness, the rotation angle is calculated by
where is a rotation for the element, and

is the rotation for the i’th layer of the element. Theangle can be input using the
BETA parameter on the *MAT data, or will be overridden for Individual elements if the BETA
keyword option for *ELEMENT_SHELL is used. The angles are input using the ICOMP=1
option of *SECTION_SHELL. If is omitted, theyAre assumed to be zero.
All anisotropic shell materials have the BETA option on the *MAT card available for both
OPT=0 and AOPT=3, except for materials 91 and 92 which have it available for all values of
AOPT, 0, 2, and 3.
All anisotropic shell materials allow a BETA angle for each integration point through the
thickness, , except for materials 2, 86, 91, 92, and 117. This limitation however does
notpreclude the use of these materials for layered composites.
The most general way to model a layered composite is to use *PART_COMPOSITE to define a
material model, thickness, and material angle, for each layer of a shell element. The
samecapability is available through the IRID option on *SECTION_SHELL to specify a user-
definedIntegration rule in conjunction with the PID option on *INTEGRATION_SHELL. With
bothmethods, each layer has its own material defined and can thus have its own material
direction.The *PART_COMPOSITE method is more user-friendly and is recommended.
MAT_SOIL_AND_FOAM
This is Material Type 5. This is a very simple model and works in some ways like a fluid. Its
hould be used only in situations when soils and foams are confined within a structure or
whengeometric boundaries are present.
Card Format

RO Mass density.
G Shear modulus.
K Bulk modulus for unloading used for VCR=0.0.
A0 Yield function constant for plastic yield function below.
PC Pressure cutoff for tensile fracture (< 0).
VCR Volumetric crushing option:

EQ.0.0: on,
EQ.1.0: loading and unloading paths are the same.
REF Use reference geometry to initialize the pressure. The reference
geometry is defined by the keyword:*INITIAL_FOAM_REFERENCE_
GEOMETRY. This option does not initialize the deviatoric stress state.
EQ.0.0: off,
EQ.1.0: on.
EPS1,..... Volumetric strain values (natural logarithmic values), see comments

below. A maximum of 10 values are allowed and a minimum of 2
values are necessary. The tabulated values must completely cover the
expected values in the analysis. If the first value is not for a volumetric
strain value of zero then the point (0.0,0.0) will be automatically
generated and up to a further nine additional values may be defined.
P1, P2,..PN Pressures corresponding to volumetric strain values.

Remarks:
Pressure is positive in compression. Volumetric strain is given by the natural log of the
relative volume and is negative in compression. Relative volume is ratio of the current volumeto
the initial volume at the start of the calculation. The tabulated data should be given in order
ofincreasing compression. If the pressure drops below the cutoff value specified, it is reset to
thatvalue. For a detailed description we refer to Kreig [1972].
MAT_VISCOELASTIC
This is Material Type 6. This model allows the modeling of viscoelastic behavior for
beams(Hughes-Liu), shells, and solids. Also see *MAT_GENERAL_VISCOELASTIC for a
more general formulation.
Card Format

RO Mass density
BULK Elastic bulk modulus.
G0 Short-time shear modulus, see equations below.
GI Long-time (infinite) shear modulus, G∞.
BETA Decay constant.
MAT_012 *MAT_ISOTROPIC_ELASTIC_PLASTIC
MAT_ISOTROPIC_ELASTIC_PLASTIC
This is Material Type 12. This is a very low cost isotropic plasticity model for
threedimensionalsolids. In the plane stress implementation for shell elements, a one-step radial
approach is used to scale the Cauchy stress tensor to if the state of stress exceeds the yield
surface. This approach to plasticity leads to inaccurate shell thickness updates and stresses
afteryielding. This is the only model in LS-DYNA for plane stress that does not default to an
iterative approach.
Card Format

RO Mass density.
G Shear modulus.
SIGY Yield stress.
ETAN Plastic hardening modulus.
BULK Bulk modulus, K.
Remarks:
MAT_020 *MAT_RIGID
This is Material 20. Parts made from this material are considered to belong to a rigid body
(foreach part ID). Also, the coupling of a rigid body with MADYMO and CAL3D can be defined
via this material. Alternatively, a VDA surface can be attached as surface to model the geometry,
e.g., for the tooling in metal forming applications. Also, global and local constraintson the mass
center can be optionally defined. Optionally, a local consideration for output and user-defined
airbag sensors can be chosen.
Card Format

Characters must be specified.
RO Mass density
E Young’s modulus. Reasonable values have to be chosen for contact

analysis (choice of penalty), see remark below.
PR Poisson’s ratio. Reasonable values have to be chosen for contact

analysis (choice of penalty), see remark below.
N MADYMO3D 5.4 coupling flag, n:

EQ.0: use normal LS-DYNA rigid body updates,
GT.0: the rigid body is coupled to MADYMO 5.4 ellipsoid number n,
LT.0: the rigid body is coupled to MADYMO 5.4 plane number |n|.
COUPLE Coupling option if applicable:

EQ.-1: attach VDA surface in ALIAS (defined in the eighth field)
and automatically generate a mesh for viewing the surface in LSPREPOST.
MADYMO 5.4 / CAL3D coupling option:
EQ.0: the undeformed geometry input to LS-DYNA corresponds to
the local system for MADYMO 5.4 / CAL3D. The finite element
mesh is input,
EQ.1: the undeformed geometry input to LS-DYNA corresponds to
the global system for MADYMO 5.4 / CAL3D,
EQ.2: generate a mesh for the ellipsoids and planes internally in
LS-DYNA.
M MADYMO3D 5.4 coupling flag, m:

EQ.0: use normal LS-DYNA rigid body updates,
EQ.m:this rigid body corresponds to MADYMO rigid body number
m. Rigid body updates are performed by MADYMO.
ALIAS VDA surface alias name, see Appendix L.
RE MADYMO 6.0.1 External Reference Number
CMO Center of mass constraint option, CMO:

EQ.+1.0: constraints applied in global directions,
EQ. 0.0: no constraints,
EQ. -1.0: constraints applied in local directions (SPC constraint).
CON1 First constraint parameter:

If CMO=+1.0, then specify global translational constraint:
Remarks:
The rigid material type 20 provides a convenient way of turning one or more parts comprised of
beams, shells, or solid elements into a rigid body. Approximating a deformable body as rigid is a
preferred modeling technique in many real world applications. For example, in sheet metal
forming problems the tooling can properly and accurately be treated as rigid. In the design of
restraint systems the occupant can, for the purposes of early design studies, also be treated as
rigid. Elements which are rigid are bypassed in the element processing and no storages allocated
for storing history variables; consequently, the rigid material type is very cost-efficient.
Two unique rigid part ID's may not share common nodes unless they are merged together using
the rigid body merge option. A rigid body may be made up of disjoint finite element meshes,
however. LS-DYNA assumes this is the case since this is a common practice in setting up
tooling meshes in forming problems.
All elements which reference a given part ID corresponding to the rigid material should be
contiguous, but this is not a requirement. If two disjoint groups of elements on opposite sides of
a model are modeled as rigid, separate part ID's should be created for each of the contiguous
element groups if each group is to move independently. This requirement arises from the fact
that LS-DYNA internally computes the six rigid body degrees-of-freedom for each rigid
body(rigid material or set of merged materials), and if disjoint groups of rigid elements use the
same part ID, the disjoint groups will move together as one rigid body.
Inertial properties for rigid materials may be defined in either of two ways. By default, the
inertial properties are calculated from the geometry of the constituent elements of the
rigidmaterial and the density specified for the part ID. Alternatively, the inertial properties and
initial velocities for a rigid body may be directly defined, and this overrides data calculated from
the material property definition and nodal initial velocity definitions.
Young's modulus, E, and Poisson's ratio, υ are used for determining sliding interface parameters
if the rigid body interacts in a contact definition. Realistic values for these constants should be
defined since unrealistic values may contribute to numerical problem in contact. Constraint
directions for rigid materials (CMO equal to +1 or -1) are fixed, that is, not updated, with time.
To impose a constraint on a rigid body such that the constraint direction is updated as the rigid
body rotates, use *BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_RIGID_LOCAL.
If no constraints are specified for the rigid part (CMO=0) the nodes for the part are
scanned to determine constraints on the part in global directions. If constraints are
specified(CMO equal to +1 or -1) then the nodes are not scanned.
For coupling with MADYMO 5.4.1, only basic coupling is available.
The coupling flags (N and M) must match with SYSTEM and ELLIPSOID/PLANE in
theMADYMO input file and the coupling option (COUPLE) must be defined.
For coupling with MADYMO 6.0.1, both basic and extended coupling are available:
(1) Basic Coupling: The external reference number (RE) must match with the external
Reference number in the MADYMO XML input file. The coupling option (COUPLE) must be
defined.
(2) Extended Coupling: Under this option MADYMO will handle the contact between the
MADYMO and LS-DYNA models. The external reference number (RE) and the couplingoption
(COUPLE) are not needed. All coupling surfaces that interface with the MADYMOmodels need
to be defined in *CONTACT_COUPLING.
MAT_022 *MAT_COMPOSITE_DAMAGE
MAT_COMPOSITE_DAMAGE
This is Material Type 22. An orthotropic material with optional brittle failure for composites
canbe defined following the suggestion of [Chang and Chang 1987a,1987b]. Three failure
criteriaare possible, see Theoretical Manual. By using the user defined integration rule,
see*INTEGRATION_SHELL, the constitutive constants can vary through the shell thickness.
Forall shells, except the DKT formulation, laminated shell theory can be activated to properly
modelthe transverse shear deformation. Lamination theory is applied to correct for the
assumption of a uniform constant shear strain through the thickness of the shell. For sandwich
shells where theouter layers are much stiffer than the inner layers, the response will tend to be
too stiff unless lamination theory is used. To turn on lamination theory see
*CONTROL_SHELL.
Card Format

RO Mass density
EA Ea, Young’s modulus in a-direction.
EB Eb, Young’s modulus in b-direction.
EC Ec, Young’s modulus in c-direction.
PRBA ba, Poisson ratio, ba.
PRCA ca, Poisson ratio, ca.
PRCB cb, Poisson ratio, cb.
GAB Gab, Shear modulus, ab.
GBC Gbc, Shear modulus, bc.
GCA Gca, Shear modulus, ca.
KFAIL Bulk modulus of failed material. Necessary for compressive failure.
AOPT Material axes option (see MAT_OPTION TROPIC_ELASTIC for

amore complete description):
element nodes 1, 2, and 4, as with *DEFINE_COORDINATE_
NODES.


VECTOR.

of the vector v with the element normal.

the material axes determined by a vector v, and an originating point,P,
which define the centerline axis. This option is for solid
elements only.


XP,YP,ZP Coordinates of point p for AOPT = 1.
A1,A2,A3 Components of vector a for AOPT = 2.
V1,V2,V3 Components of vector v for AOPT = 3.
D1, D2, D3 Components of vector d for AOPT = 2.

Element card, see *ELEMENT_SHELL_BETA or *ELEMENT_
SOLID_ORTHO.
SC Shear strength, ab plane, see Theoretical Manual.
XT Longitudinal tensile strength, a-axis, see Theoretical Manual.
YT Transverse tensile strength, b-axis.
YC Transverse compressive strength, b-axis (positive value).
ALPH Shear stress parameter for the nonlinear term, see Theoretical Manual.
Suggested range 0 – 0.5.
SN Normal tensile strength (solid elements only)
SYZ Transverse shear strength (solid elements only)
SZX Transverse shear strength (solid elements only)
Remarks:
The number of additional integration point variables for shells written to the d3plot
database is input by the optional *DATABASE_EXTENT_BINARY as variable NEIPS. These
additional variables are tabulated below (ip = shell integration point):
These variables can be plotted in LS-Prepost as element history variables 1, 2, and 3. The
following components are stored as element component 7 instead of the effective plastic strain.
*MAT_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY *MAT_024
This is Material Type 24. An elasto-plastic material with an arbitrary stress versus strain curve
and arbitrary strain rate dependency can be defined. See also Remark below. Also, failure based
on a plastic strain or a minimum time step size can be defined. For another model with a more
comprehensive failure criteria see
MAT_MODIFIED_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY. If considering laminated or

sandwich shells with non-uniform material properties (this is definedthrough the user specified
integration rule), the model, MAT_LAYERED_LINEAR_PLASTICITY, is recommended. If
solid elements are used and if the elastic strains beforeyielding are finite, the model,
MAT_FINITE_ELASTIC_STRAIN_PLASTICITY, treats the
elastic strains using a hyperelastic formulation.
Card Format

RO Mass density.
E Young’s modulus.
PR Poisson’s ratio.
SIGY Yield stress.
ETAN Tangent modulus, ignored if (LCSS.GT.0) is defined.

FAIL Failure flag.
LT.0.0: User defined failure subroutine is called to determine
failure
EQ.0.0: Failure is not considered. This option is recommended if
failure is not of interest since many calculations will be saved.
GT.0.0: Plastic strain to failure. When the plastic strain reaches
this value, the element is deleted from the calculation.
TDEL Minimum time step size for automatic element deletion.
C Strain rate parameter, C, see formula below.
P Strain rate parameter, P, see formula below.
LCSS Load curve ID or Table ID (optional; supersedes SIGY, ETAN, EPS1-8,

ES1-8). Load curve ID defining effective stress versus effective plastic
strain. If defined EPS1-EPS8 and ES1-ES8 are ignored. The table ID
defines for each strain rate value a load curve ID giving the stress versus
effective plastic strain for that rate, See Figure 23.24.1. The stress
versus effective plastic strain curve for the lowest value of strain rate is
used if the strain rate falls below the minimum value. Likewise, the
stress versus effective plastic strain curve for the highest
value of strain rate is used if the strain rate exceeds the maximum value.
The strain rate parameters: C and P; the curve ID, LCSR; EPS1-EPS8
and ES1-ES8 are ignored if a Table ID is defined. NOTE: The strain
rate values defined in the table may be given as the natural logarithm of
the strain rate. If the first stress-strain curve in the table corresponds to
a negative strain rate, LS-DYNA assumes that the natural logarithm of
the strain rate value is used. Since the tables are internally discretized to
equally space the points, natural logarithms are necessary, for example,
if the curves correspond to rates from 10.e-04 to 10.e+04. Computing
the natural logarithm of the strain rate does slow the stress update down
significantly on some computers.
LCSR Load curve ID defining strain rate scaling effect on yield stress.
VP Formulation for rate effects:

EQ.-1.0: Cowper-Symonds with deviatoric strain rate rather thantotal.
EQ. 0.0: Scale yield stress (default),
EQ. 1.0: Viscoplastic formulation.
EPS1-EPS8 Effective plastic strain values (optional; supersedes SIGY, ETAN). At least 2
points should be defined. The first point must be zero corresponding to the initial
yield stress. WARNING: If the first point is nonzero the yield stress is
extrapolated to determine the initial yield. If this option is used SIGY and ETAN
are ignored and may be input as zero
.ES1-ES8 Corresponding yield stress values to EPS1 - EPS8.
MAT_FABRIC *MAT_034
This is Material Type 34. This material is especially developed for airbag materials. The fabric
model is a variation on the layered orthotropic composite model of material 22 and is valid for
3and 4 node membrane elements only. In addition to being a constitutive model, this model
alsoinvokes a special membrane element formulation which is more suited to the deformation
experienced by fabrics under large deformation. For thin fabrics, buckling can result in
aninability to support compressive stresses; thus a flag is included for this option. A linearly
elasticliner is also included which can be used to reduce the tendency for these elements to be
crushedwhen the no-compression option is invoked. In LS-DYNA versions after 931 the
isotropicelastic option is available.

RO Mass density.
EA Young’s modulus - longitudinal direction. For an isotopic elastic fabric

material only EA and PRBA are defined and are used as the isotropic
Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio, respectively. The input for the
fiber directions and liner should be input as zero for the isotropic elastic
fabric.
EB Young’s modulus - transverse direction, set to zero for isotropic elastic

material.
(EC) Young’s modulus - normal direction, set to zero for isotropic elastic
material. (Not used.)
PRBA ba, Poisson’s ratio ba direction.
(PRCA) ca,
Poisson’s ratio ca direction, set to zero for isotropic elastic material.
(Not used.)
(PRCB) cb,
Poisson’s ratio cb direction, set to zero for isotropic elastic material.
(Not used.)
GAB Gab, shear modulus ab direction, set to zero for isotropic elastic material.
(GBC) Gbc, shear modulus bc direction, set to zero for isotropic elastic material.
(Not used.)
(GCA) Gca, shear modulus ca direction, set to zero for isotropic elastic material.
(Not used.)
CSE Compressive stress elimination option (default 0.0):

EQ.0.0: don’t eliminate compressive stresses,
EQ.1.0: eliminate compressive stresses (This option does not
apply to the liner).
EL Young’s modulus for elastic liner (optional).
PRL Poisson’s ratio for elastic liner (optional).
LRATIO Ratio of liner thickness to total fabric thickness.

DAMP Rayleigh damping coefficient. A 0.05 coefficient is recommended
corresponding to 5% of critical damping. Sometimes larger values are
necessary.
AOPT Material axes option (see MAT_OPTION TROPIC_ELASTIC for a
more complete description):
NODES.
VECTOR.
FLC/X2 Define either of the optional constants FLC or X2 where FLC is the
fabric leakage coefficient (if and only if 0 0 X ) and X2 is a coefficient
of the porosity equation of Anagonye and Wang [1999] (if and only
if 0 0, 0 1 X X ≠≠).
LT.0.0: There are two choices. If 0 0 X , |FLC| is the load curve
ID of the curve defining FLC versus time. If 0 1 X , |FLC| is the
load curve ID defining FLC versus the stretching ratio defined as
0 / s r A A . See notes below.
FAC/X3 Define either of the optional constants FAC or X3 where FAC is the
fabric area coefficient (if and only if 0 0 X ), and X3 is a coefficient of
the porosity equation of Anagonye and Wang [1999] (if and only
if 0 0, 0 1 X X ≠≠).
LT.0.0: There are two choices if FVOPT<7. If 0 0 X , |FAC| is
the load curve ID of the curve defining FAC versus absolute
pressure. If 0 1 X , |FAC| is the load curve ID defining FAC versus
the pressure ratio defined as / p air bag r P P . See remark 3 below. If
FVOPT=7/8, FAC defines leakage volume rate versus pressure.
ELA Effective leakage area for blocked fabric, ELA.

LT.0.0: |ELA| is the load curve ID of the curve defining ELA
versus time. The default value of zero assumes that no leakage
occurs. A value of .10 would assume that 10% of the blocked
fabric is leaking gas.
LNRC Flag to turn off compression in liner until the reference geometry is
reached, i.e., the fabric element becomes tensile.
EQ.0.0: off.
EQ.1.0: on.
FORM Flag to modify membrane formulation for fabric material:

EQ.0.0: default. Least costly and very reliable.
EQ.1.0: invariant local membrane coordinate system
EQ.2.0: Green-Lagrange strain formulation
EQ.3.0: large strain with nonorthogonal material angles. See
Remark 5.
EQ.4.0: large strain with nonorthogonal material angles and
nonlinear stress strain behavior. Define optional load curve IDs on
optional card.
EQ.12.0: Updated form 2. See Remark 10.
FVOPT Fabric venting option.

used. Blockage of venting area due to contact is considered.
EQ. 3: Leakage formulas of Graefe, Krummheuer, and Siejak

[1990] are used. Blockage is not considered.
EQ. 4: Leakage formulas of Graefe, Krummheuer, and Siejak
[1990] are used. Blockage of venting area due to contact is
considered.
EQ. 5: Leakage formulas based on flow through a porous media are

used. Blockage is not considered.
EQ. 6: Leakage formulas based on flow through a porous media are

used. Blockage of venting area due to contact is considered.
EQ. 7: Leakage is based on gas volume outflow versus pressure

load curve [Lian, 2000]. Blockage is not considered.
EQ. 8: Leakage is based on gas volume outflow versus pressure
load curve [Lian, 2000]. Blockage of venting area due to contact is
considered.
TSRFAC Tensile stress cutoff reduction factor

LT.0: |TSRFAC| is the load curve ID of the curve defining
TSRFAC versus time.
A1 A2 A3 Components of vector a for AOPT = 2.
X0,X1 Coefficients of Anagonye and Wang [1999] porosity equation for
V1 V2 V3 Components of vector v for AOPT = 3.
D1 D2 D3 Components of vector d for AOPT = 2.

element card, see *ELEMENT_SHELL_BETA.
LCA Load curve ID for stress versus strain along the a-axis fiber; available
for FORM=4 or 14 only. If zero, EA is used.
LCB Load curve ID for stress versus strain along the b-axis fiber; available
for FORM=4 or 14 only. If zero, EB is used.
LCAB Load curve ID for shear stress versus shear strain in the ab-plane;
available for FORM=4 or 14 only. If zero, GAB is used.
LCUA Unload/reload curve ID for stress versus strain along the a-axis fiber;
available for FORM=4 or 14 only. If zero, LCA is used.
LCUB Unload/reload curve ID for stress versus strain along the b-axis fiber;
available for FORM=4 or 14 only. If zero, LCB is used.
LCUAB Unload/reload curve ID for shear stress versus shear strain in the abplane;
available for FORM=4 or 14 only. If zero, LCAB is used.
Remarks:
1. The no compression option allows the simulation of airbag inflation with far less elements
than would be needed for the discretization of the wrinkles which would occur for the case when
compressive stresses are not eliminated.
2. When using this material for the analysis of membranes as airbags it is well known from
classical theory that only one layer has to be defined. The so-called elastic liner has to be defined
for numerical purposes only when the no compression option is invoked.
3. The parameters FLC and FAC are optional for the Wang-Nefske inflation models. It is
possible for the airbag to be constructed of multiple fabrics having different values for porosity
and permeability. The leakage of gas through the fabric in an airbag then requires an accurate
determination of the areas by part ID available for leakage. The leakage area may change over
time due to stretching of the airbag fabric or blockage when the bag contacts the structure. LS-
DYNA can check the interaction of the bag with the structure and split the areas into regions that
are blocked and unblocked depending on whether the regions are in or not in contact,
respectively. Typically, FLC and FAC must be determined experimentally and there variation in
time with pressure are optional to allow for maximum flexibility.
4. The elastic backing layer always acts in tension and compression since the tension cutoff
option, CSE, does not apply. This can sometimes cause difficulties if the elements are very small
in relationship to their actual size as defined by the reference geometry
(See*AIRBAG_REFERENCE_GEOMETRY.). If the flag, LNRC, is set to 1.0 the elastic liner
does not begin to act until the area of defined by the reference geometry is reached.
5. For FORM=0, 1, and 2, the a-axis and b-axis fiber directions are assumed to be orthogonal and
are completely defined by the material axes option, AOPT=0, 2, or 3. For FORM=3, 4, 13, or 14,
the fiber directions are not assumed orthogonal and must be specified using the ICOMP=1 option
on *SECTION_SHELL. Offset angles should be input into the B1 and B2 fields used normally
for integration points 1 and 2. The a-axis and b-axis directions will then be offset from the a-axis
direction as determined by the material axis option, AOPT=0, 2, or 3.
6. For FORM=4 or 14, nonlinear true stress versus true strain load curves may be defined for a-
axis, b-axis, and shear stresses for loading and also for unloading and reloading. All curves
should start at the origin and be defined for positive strains only. The a-axis and b-axis stress
follows the curves for tension only. For compression, stress is calculated from the constant
values, EA or EB. Shear stress/strain behavior is assumed symmetric. If a load curve is omitted,
the stress is calculated from the appropriate constant modulus,
EA, EB, or GAB.
7. When both loading and unloading curves are defined, the initial yield strain is assumed to be
equal to the strain at the first point in the load curve with stress greater than zero. When strain
exceeds the yield strain, the stress continues to follow the load curve and the yield strain is
updated to the current strain. When unloading occurs, the unload/reload curve is shifted along the
x-axis until it intersects the load curve at the current yield strain. If the curve shift is to the right,
unloading and reloading will follow the shifted unload/reload curve. If the curve shift is zero or
to the left, unloading and reloading will occur along the load curve.
8. The FVOPT flag allows an airbag fabric venting equation to be assigned to an material.The
anticipated use for this option is to allow a vent to be defined using FVOPT=1 or 2for one
material and fabric leakage to be defined for using FVOPT=3, 4, 5, or 6 for othermaterials. In
order to use FVOPT, a venting option must first be defined for the airbag using the OPT
parameter on *AIRBAG_WANG_NEFSKE or *AIRBAG_HYBRID. If OPT=0, then FVOPT is
ignored. If OPT is defined and FVOPT is omitted, then FVOPTis set equal to OPT.
9. The TSRFAC factor is used to assure that airbags that have a reference geometry will open to
the correct geometry. Airbags that use a reference geometry might have an initial geometry that
results in initial tensile strains. To prevent such strains from prematurely opening an airbag, these
tensile strains are eliminated by default. A side effect of this behavior is that airbags that use a
reference geometry and that are initially stretched will never achieve the correct shape. The
TSRFAC factor is used to restore the tensile strains over time such that the correct geometry is
achieved. It is recommend that a load curve be used to define TSRFAC as function of time. I
nitially the load curve ordinate value should be 0.0 which will allow the bag to remain
unstressed. At a time when the bag is partially open, the value of (1.0-TSRFAC) can ramp down
to 0.999 which will cause the initially stretched elements to shrink. Permissible values for
TSRFAC is 0.0 to 0.001. At this latter value the tensile strains will be removed in 1000 time
steps. Larger values than 0.001 may be used but instabilities may occur.
10. Material forms 12, 13, and 14 are updated versions of forms 2, 3, and 4 respectively. These
new forms are intended to be less susceptible to timestep collapse and also guarantee zero stress
in the initial geometry when a reference geometry is used. The behavior should otherwise be
similar with one exception. The LNRC flag eliminates not only initial compressive strain but
total initial strain. Therefore, the TSRFAC option is recommended (see note 9) when forms 12,
13, and 14 are used with a reference geometry and LNRC=1.
MAT_SOFT_TISSUE
Options include:
This is Material Type 91 (OPTION=<BLANK>) or Material Type 92 (OPTION=VISCO).
Thismaterial is a transversely isotropic hyperelastic model for representing biological soft
tissuessuch as ligaments, tendons, and fascia. The representation provides an isotropic Mooney-
Rivlinmatrix reinforced by fibers having a strain energy contribution with the qualitative
materialbehavior of collagen. The model has a viscoelasticity option which activates a six-term
Pronyseries kernel for the relaxation function. In this case, the hyperelastic strain energy
representsthe elastic (long-time) response. See Weiss et al. [1996] and Puso and Weiss [1998]
foradditional details.
The material is available for use with brick and shell elements. When usedwith shell elements,
the Belytschko-Tsay formulation (#2) must be selected.
Card Format

RO Mass density
C1 - C5 Hyperelastic coefficients (see equations below)
XK Bulk Modulus
XLAM Stretch ratio at which fibers are straightened
FANG Fiber angle in local shell coordinate system (shells only)
XLAM0 Initial fiber stretch (optional)
FAILSF Stretch ratio for ligament fibers at failure (applies to shell elements
only). If zero, failure is not considered.
FAILSM Stretch ratio for surrounding matrix material at failure (applies to shell
elements only). If zero, failure is not considered.
FAILSHR Shear strain at failure at a material point (applies to shell elements only).
If zero, failure is not considered. This failure value is independent of
FAILSF and FAILSM.
AOPT Material axes option, see Figure 23.2.2 (bricks only):

element nodes as shown in Figure 23.2.2. Nodes 1, 2, and 4 of an
element are identical to the nodes used for the definition of a
coordinate system as by *DEFINE_COORDINATE_NODES.

VECTOR.

of the vector v with the element normal. The plane of a solid
element is the midsurface between the inner surface and outer
surface defined by the first four nodes and the last four nodes of the
connectivity of the element, respectively.

the material axes determined by a vector v, and an originating point, P,
elements only.
AX, AY, AZ Equal to XP,YP,ZP for AOPT=1,

Equal to A1,A2,A3 for AOPT=2,
Equal to V1,V2,V3 for AOPT=3 or 4.
BX, BY, BZ Equal to D1,D2,D3 for AOPT=2
Equal to XP,YP,ZP for AOPT=4
LAX, LAY, LAZ Local fiber orientation vector (bricks only)

S1 - S6 Spectral strengths for Prony series relaxation kernel
(OPTION=VISCO)
T1 - T6 Characteristic times for Prony series relaxation kernel
Remarks:
The overall strain energy W is "uncoupled" and includes two isotropic deviatoric matrix terms,
afiber term F, and a bulk term:
Here, 1 I􀀄 and 2 I􀀄 are the deviatoric invariants of the right Cauchy deformation tensor, is the
deviatoric part of the stretch along the current fiber direction, and J det F is the volume
ratio.The material coefficients C1 and C2 are the Mooney-Rivlin coefficients, while K is the
effective bulk modulus of the material (input parameter XK).
The derivatives of the fiber term F are defined to capture the behavior of crimped collagen. The
fibers are assumed to be unable to resist compressive loading - thus the model is isotropic
when1. An exponential function describes the straightening of the fibers, while a linear function
describes the behavior of the fibers once they are straightened past a critical fiber stretch level *
(input parameter XLAM):
Coefficients C3 , C4 , and C5 must be defined by the user. C6 is determined by LS-DYNA tonsure

stress continuity at * . Sample values for the material coefficients C1 −C5 and * for ligament
tissue can be found in Quapp and Weiss [1998]. The bulk modulus K should be at least 3 orders
of magnitude larger than C1 to ensure near-incompressible material behavior.Viscoelasticity is
included via a convolution integral representation for the time-dependentsecond Piola-Kirchoff
stress S C,t :
Here, Se is the elastic part of the second PK stress as derived from the strain energy, and G t −s
is the reduced relaxation function, represented by a Prony series:
Puso and Weiss [1998] describe a graphical method to fit the Prony series coefficients to
relaxation data that approximates the behavior of the continuous relaxation function proposed
byY-C. Fung, as quasilinear viscoelasticity.
Remarks on Input Parameters:
Cards 1 through 4 must be included for both shell and brick elements, although for shells cards
3and 4 are ignored and may be blank lines.
For shell elements, the fiber direction lies in the plane of the element. The local axis is defined
by a vector between nodes n1 and n2, and the fiber direction may be offset from this axis by
anangle FANG.
For brick elements, the local coordinate system is defined using the convention described
previously for *MAT_ORTHOTROPIC_ELASTIC. The fiber direction is oriented in the
localsystem using input parameters LAX, LAY, and LAZ. By default, (LAX,LAY,LAZ) =
(1,0,0)and the fiber is aligned with the local x-direction.
An optional initial fiber stretch can be specified using XLAM0. The initial stretch is
appliedduring the first time step. This creates preload in the model as soft tissue contracts
andequilibrium is established. For example, a ligament tissue "uncrimping strain" of 3% can
berepresented with initial stretch value of 1.03.
If the VISCO option is selected, at least one Prony series term (S1,T1) must be defined.
MAT_BRITTLE_DAMAGE
Card Format
MID Material identification. A unique number has to be chosen.
RO Mass density.
E Young's modulus.
PR Poisson's ratio.
TLIMIT Tensile limit.
SLIMIT Shear limit.
FTOUGH Fracture toughness.
SRETEN Shear retention.
VISC Viscosity.
FRA_RF Fraction of reinforcement in section.
E_RF Young's modulus of reinforcement.

YS_RF Yield stress of reinforcement.
EH_RF Hardening modulus of reinforcement.
FS_RF Failure strain (true) of reinforcement.
SIGY Compressive yield stress.
EQ.0: no compressive yield
Remarks:
A full description of the tensile and shear damage parts of this material model is given in
Govindjee, Kay and Simo [1994,1995]. It is an anisotropic brittle damage model designed
primarily for concrete though it can be applied to a wide variety of brittle materials. It admits
progressive degradation of tensile and shear strengths across smeared cracks that are initiated
under tensile loadings. Compressive failure is governed by a simplistic J2 flow correction that
can be disabled if not desired. Damage is handled by treating the rank 4 elastic stiffness tensor as
an evolving internal variable for the material. Softening induced mesh dependencies are handled
by a characteristic length method Oliver 1989].
Description of properties:
1. E is the Young's modulus of the undamaged material also known as the virgin modulus.
2. is the Poisson's ratio of the undamaged material also known as the virgin Poisson's
ratio.
3. n f is the initial principal tensile strength (stress) of the material. Once this stress has
been reached at a point in the body a smeared crack is initiated there with a normal that is
co-linear with the 1st principal direction. Once initiated, the crack is fixed at that
location, though it will convect with the motion of the body. As the loading progresses
the allowed tensile traction normal to the crack plane is progressively degraded to a small
machine dependent constant.
The degradation is implemented by reducing the material's modulus normal to the

smeared crack plane according to a maximum dissipation law that incorporates
exponential softening. The restriction on the normal tractions is given by
where n is the smeared crack normal, is the small constant, H is the softening
modulus, and is an internal variable. H is set automatically by the program; see gc
below. measures the crack field intensity and is output in the equivalent plastic strain
field, p , in a normalized fashion.
The evolution of alpha is governed by a maximum dissipation argument. When the
normalized value reaches unity it means that the material's strength has been reduced to
2% of its original value in the normal and parallel directions to the smeared crack. Note
that for plotting purposes it is never output greater than 5.
4. f s is the initial shear traction that may be transmitted across a smeared crack plane. The
shear traction is limited to be less than or equal to through theuse of two orthogonal shear
damage surfaces. Note that the shear degradation is coupledto the tensile degradation through the
internal variable alpha which measures the intensityof the crack field. is the shear retention
factor defined below. The shear degradation istaken care of by reducing the material's shear
stiffness parallel to the smeared crackplane.
MAT_ANISOTROPIC_PLASTIC
This is Material Type 103. This anisotropic-plastic material model is a simplified version of
theMAT_ANISOTROPIC_VISCOPLASTIC above. This material model applies only to
shellelements.
Card Format

RO Mass density.
E Young’s modulus
PR Poisson’s ratio
SIGY Initial yield stress
LCSS Load curve ID. The load curve ID defines effective stress versus effective
plastic strain. Card 2 is ignored with this option.
QR1 Isotropic hardening parameter Qr1

CR1 Isotropic hardening parameter Cr1
QR2 Isotropic hardening parameter Qr 2
CR2 Isotropic hardening parameter Cr2
R00 R00 for anisotropic hardening
R4 5 R45 for anisotropic hardening
R90 R90 for anisotropic hardening
S11 Yield stress in local x-direction. This input is ignored if R00 , R45 ,R90 0
S22 Yield stress in local y-direction. This input is ignored if R00 , R45 ,R90 0
S33 Yield stress in local z-direction. This input is ignored if R00, R45 ,R90 0
S12 Yield stress in local xy-direction. This input is ignored if R00 , R45 ,R90
0 .AOPT Material axes option (see MAT_OPTION TROPIC_ELASTIC for a
more complete description):

NODES.


VECTOR.


the material axes determined by a vector v, and an originating point,P,
elements only.
XP,YP,ZP xp yp zp, define coordinates of point p for AOPT = 1 and 4.

A1, A2,A3 a1 a2 a3, define components of vector a for AOPT = 2.
D1,D2,D3 d1 d2 d3, define components of vector d for AOPT = 2.
V1, V2, V3 v1 v2 v3, define components of vector v for AOPT = 3 and 4.
BETA aterial angle in degrees for AOPT = 3, may be overridden on the

element card, see *ELEMENT_SHELL_BETA or *ELEMENT_
SOLID_ORTHO.
Remarks:
If no load curve is defined for the effective stress versus effective plastic strain, the uniaxial
stress-strain curve is given on the following form
MAT_MODIFIED_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY (MAT_123)
This is Material Type 123. An elasto-plastic material with an arbitrary stress versus strain curve
and arbitrary strain rate dependency can be defined. This model is currently available for
shellelements only. Another model,
MAT_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY, is similar but

lacks the enhanced failure criteria. Failure is based on effective plastic strain, plastic thinning,
the major principal in plane strain component, or a minimum time step size. See the discussion
under the model description for PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY if more information is
desired. One option is available for rate dependence of the plastic thinning failure:
MAT_MODIFIED_PIECEWISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY_RATE
One additional card is needed with this option.
Card Format

RO Mass density.
E Young’s modulus.
PR Poisson’s ratio.
SIGY Yield stress.
ETAN Tangent modulus, ignored if (LCSS.GT.0) is defined.

FAIL Failure flag.

LT.0.0: User defined failure subroutine is called to determine
failure
EQ.0.0: Failure is not considered. This option is recommended if
failure is not of interest since many calculations will be saved.
GT.0.0: Plastic strain to failure. When the plastic strain reaches
this value, the element is deleted from the calculation.
TDEL Minimum time step size for automatic element deletion.
C Strain rate parameter, C, see formula below.
P Strain rate parameter, P, see formula below.
LCSS Load curve ID or Table ID. Load curve ID defining effective stress versus
effective plastic strain. If defined EPS1-EPS8 and ES1-ES8 are ignored.
The table ID defines for each strain rate value a load curve ID giving the
stress versus effective plastic strain for that rate, See Figure 23.24.1. The
stress versus effective plastic strain curve for the lowest value of strain
rate is used if the strain rate falls below the minimum value. Likewise, the
stress versus effective plastic strain curve for the highest value of strain
rate is used if the strain rate exceeds the maximum value. The strain rate
parameters: C and P, the curve ID, LCSR, EPS1-EPS8, and ES1-ES8 are
ignored if a Table ID is defined.
LCSR Load curve ID defining strain rate scaling effect on yield stress.
VP Formulation for rate effects:

EQ.0.0: Scale yield stress (default),
EQ.1.0: Viscoplastic formulation (recommended).
EPSTHIN Thinning plastic strain at failure. This number should be given as a

positive number.
EPSMAJ Major in plane strain at failure.

LT.0: EPSMAJ=|EPSMAJ| and filtering is activated. The last
twelve values of the major strain is stored at each integration point
and the average value is used to determine failure.
NUMINT Number of integration points which must fail before the element is
deleted. (If zero, all points must fail.) For fully integrated shell
formulations, each of the 4*NIP integration points are counted
individually in determining a total for failed integration points. NIP is
the number of through-thickness integration points. As NUMINT
approaches the total number of integration points (NIP for under integrated
shells, 4*NIP for fully integrated shells), the chance of
instability increases.
EPS1-EPS8 Effective plastic strain values (optional if SIGY is defined). At least 2
points should be defined. The first point must be zero corresponding to
the initial yield stress. WARNING: If the first point is nonzero the yield
stress is extrapolated to determine the initial yield. If this option is used
SIGY and ETAN are ignored and may be input as zero.
ES1-ES8 Corresponding yield stress values to EPS1 - EPS8.
LCTSRF Load curve that defines the thinning plastic strain at failure as a function
of the plastic strain rate.
RIGIDWALL *RIGIDWALL_PLANAR
Optional Card D - Required if MOVING is specified after keyword.
Note: The MOVING option is not compatible with the ORTHO option.
MASS Total mass of stonewall
V0 Initial velocity of stonewall in direction of defining vector, n
AIRBAG
Purpose: Define an airbag or control volume.
The keyword *AIRBAG provides a way of defining thermodynamic behavior of the
gas Flow into the airbag as well as a reference configuration for the fully inflated bag. The
keyword Cards in this section are defined in alphabetical order:
*AIRBAG_OPTION1_{OPTION2}_{OPTION3}_{OPTION4}
*AIRBAG_INTERACTION
*AIRBAG_REFERENCE_GEOMETRY_OPTION_OPTION
*AIRBAG_SHELL_REFERENCE_GEOMETRY
*AIRBAG_OPTION1_{OPTION2}_{OPTION3}_{OPTION4}
OPTION1 specifies one of the following thermodynamic relationships:
SIMPLE_PRESSURE_VOLUME
SIMPLE_AIRBAG_MODEL
ADIABATIC_GAS_MODEL
WANG_NEFSKE
WANG_NEFSKE_JETTING
WANG_NEFSKE_MULTIPLE_JETTING
LOAD_CURVE
LINEAR_FLUID
HYBRID
HYBRID_JETTING
HYBRID_CHEMKIN
OPTION2 specifies that an additional line of data be read for the WANG_NEFSKE type
Thermodynamic relationships. The additional data controls the initiation of exit flow from the
Airbag. OPTION2 takes the single option:
POP
OPTION3 specifies that a constant momentum formulation be used to calculate the jetting load
on the airbag an additional line of data is read in: OPTION3 takes the single option:
CM
OPTION4 given by:

ID
RBID Rigid body part ID for user defined activation subroutine:

EQ.-RBID: Sensor subroutine flags initiate the inflator. Load
Curves are offset by initiation time,
EQ.0: the control volume is active from time zero,
EQ. RBID: User sensor subroutine flags the start of the inflation.
Load curves are offset by initiation time.
VSCA Volume scale factor, Vsca (default=1.0)
PSCA Pressure scale factor, Psca (default=1.0)
VINI Initial filled volume, Vini
MWD Mass weighted damping factor, D
SPSF Stagnation nation pressure scale factor, 01
N Number of input parameters (not to exceed 25)
C1...CN Up to 25 constants for the user subroutine.
AX Acceleration level in local x-direction to activate inflator. The absolute

Value of the x-acceleration is used.
EQ.0: inactive.
AY Acceleration level in local y-direction to activate inflator. The absolute
Value of the y-acceleration is used.
EQ.0: inactive.
AZ Acceleration level in local z-direction to activate inflator. The absolute
Value of the z-acceleration is used.
EQ.0: inactive.
AMAG Acceleration magnitude required activating inflator.
EQ.0: inactive.
TDUR Time duration acceleration must be exceeded before the inflator
Activates. This is the cumulative time from the beginning of the
Calculation, i.e., it is not continuous.
DVX Velocity change in local x-direction to activate the inflator. The
Absolute value of the velocity change is used.
EQ.0: inactive.
DVY Velocity change in local y-direction to activate the inflator. The
EQ.0: inactive.
DVZ Velocity change in local z-direction to activate the inflator. The
EQ.0: inactive.
DVMAG Velocity change magnitude required activating the inflator.
EQ.0: inactive.
UX Displacement increment in local x-direction to activate the inflator. The
Absolute value of the x-displacement is used.
EQ.0: inactive.
UY Displacement increment in local y-direction to activate the inflator. The
absolute value of the y-displacement is used.
EQ.0: inactive.
UZ Displacement increment in local z-direction to activate the inflator. The
Absolute value of the z-displacement is used.
EQ.0: inactive.
UMAG Displacement magnitude required activating the inflator.

EQ.0: inactive.
CN Coefficient. Define if the load curve ID, LCID, is unspecified.
LT.0.0: |CN| is the load curve ID, which defines the coefficient as a
Function of time.
BETA Scale factor, Define if loads curve ID is not specified.
LCID Optional load curve ID defining pressure versus relative volume.
LCIDDR Optional load curve ID defining the coefficient, CN, as a function of
Time during the dynamic relaxation phase.
CV Heat capacity at constant volume

CP Heat capacity at constant pressure
T Temperature of input gas
LCID Load curve ID specifying input mass flow rate. See *DEFINE_CURVE.
MU Shape factor for exit hole, 
LT.0.0: || is the load curve number defining the shape factor as a
function of absolute pressure.
A Exit area, A:
GE.0.0: A is the exit area and is constant in time,
LT.0.0: |A| is the load curve number defining the exit area as a
function of absolute pressure.
PE Ambient pressure, pe
RO Ambient density,
LOU Optional load curve ID giving mass flow out versus gauge pressure in Bag.
TEXT Ambient temperature. (Define if and only if CV=0.)
A First heat capacity coefficient of inflator gas (e.g., Joules/mole/oK).
(Define if and only if CV=0.)
B Second heat capacity coefficient of inflator gas, (e.g., Joules/mole/oK2).
MW Molecular weight of inflator gas (e.g., Kg/mole).
(Define if and only ifCV=0.)
GASC Universal gas constant of inflator gas (e.g., 8.314 Joules/mole/oK).
PSF Pressure scale factor
LCID Optional load curve for preload flag. See *DEFINE_CURVE.
GAMMA Ratio of specific heats
P0 Initial pressure (gauge)
PE Ambient pressure
RO Initial density of gas
ATMOST Atmospheric ambient temperature. See remark 2.
ATMOSP Atmospheric ambient pressure. See remark 2.
GC Universal molar gas constant.
CC Conversion constant. If EQ: .0 Set to 1.0.
EID Element ID.

PID Optional part ID, see *PART, the part ID is not used in this section.
N1 Nodal point 1
N2 Nodal point 2
ALE
The keyword *ALE provides a way of defining input data pertaining to the Arbitrary-
Lagrangian-Eulerian capability.
For single gaseous material:

*MAT_NULL
*EOS_LINEAR_POLYNOMIAL
*EOS_IDEAL_GAS
For multiple gaseous material:
*MAT_GAS_MIXTURE
*INTIAL_GAS_MIXTUR
For other input information related to the ALE capability, see keywords:
*ALE_TANK_TEST
*BOUNDARY_AMBIENT_EOS
*CONSTRAINED_EULER_IN_EULER
*CONSTRAINED_LAGRANGE_IN_SOLID
*CONTROL_ALE
*DATABASE_FSI
*INITIAL_VOID
*INITIAL_VOLUME_FRACTION
*INITIAL_VOLUME_FRACTION_GEOMETRY
*SECTION_SOLID
*SECTION_POINT_SOURCE (for gas only)
*SECTION_POINT_SOURCE_MIXTURE
*SET_MULTI-MATERIAL_GROUP_LIST
*CONSTRAINED_EULER_IN_EULER
SID A set ID defining a monitoring surface over which an ALE fluid flows
across, and its ALE multi-material-group-ID (AMMGID) is switched.
The monitoring surface may be a Lagrangian shell structure, or a
segment set. This surface, if Lagrangian, does not have to be included in
the coupling definition (see remark 4).
STYPE Set ID type of the above SID.
EQ.0: Part set ID (PSID) (default).
EQ.1: Part ID (PID).
EQ.2: Segment set ID (SGSID).
NQUAD The number of flow-sensor points to be distributed over each monitoring

surface/segment. There should be enough sensor points distributed to
monitor the flow in each ALE element intersected by this monitoring
surface (default=1, see remark 3).
SID Set ID.
STYPE Set type:
EQ.0: part set,
EQ.1: part,
EQ.2: node set,
EQ.3: segment set.
PRTYPE Reference system type (See Remark 1 below)
EQ.0: Eulerian,
EQ.1: Lagrangian,
EQ.2: Normal ALE mesh smoothing,
EQ.3: Prescribed motion following load curves,
see *ALE_REFERENCE_ SYSTEM_CURVE,
EQ.4: Automatic mesh motion following mass weighted
average velocity in ALE mesh,
EQ.5: Automatic mesh motion following a local coordinate
system defined by three user defined nodes,
see *ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_NODE,
EQ.6: Switching in time between different reference
system types,
see *ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_SWITCH,
EQ.7: Automatic mesh expansion in order to enclose up to
twelve user defined nodes,
see *ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_NODE.
EQ.8: Mesh smoothing option for shock waves, where the element
grid contracts in the vicinity of the shock front. This may be
referred to as the Delayed-ALE option. It controls how much the
mesh is to be moved during the remap step. This option requires
the definition of the 5th parameter in the 2nd card, EFAC; see
below for definition.
EQ.9: Allowing the ALE mesh(es) to:
-Translate and/or rotate to follow a local Lagrangian reference
Coordinate system (whose *ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_NODE
Card ID is defined by the BCTRAN parameter)
-Expand or contract to enclose a Lagrangian part-set ID defined by
the PRID parameter.
-Has a Lagrangian node ID be defined by the ICR/NID parameter to
be the center of the ALE mesh expansion.
PRID A parameter giving additional information depending on the reference

system (PRTYPE) choice:
PRTYPE= 3: PRID defines a load curve group ID specifying an
*ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_CURVE card for mesh
translation. This defines up to 12 curves which prescribe
the motion of the system.
ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_GROUP
SID Set ID.
STYPE Set type: EQ.0: part set,
EQ.1: part,
EQ.2: node set,
EQ.3: segment set.
PRTYPE Reference system type (See Remark 1 below)
EQ.0: Eulerian,
EQ.1: Lagrangian,
EQ.2: Normal ALE mesh smoothing,
EQ.3: Prescribed motion following load curves,
See *ALE_REFERENCE_ SYSTEM_CURVE,
EQ.4: Automatic mesh motion following mass weighted
average Velocity in ALE mesh,
EQ.5: Automatic mesh motion following a
Local coordinate system defined by three user
See*ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_NODE,
EQ.6: Switching in time between different reference system types,
See *ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_SWITCH,
EQ.7: Automatic mesh expansion in order to enclose
up to twelve user defined nodes,
See *ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_NODE.
EQ.8: Mesh smoothing option for shock waves, where the element
grid contracts in the vicinity of the shock front. This may be
referred to as the Delayed-ALE option. It controls how much the
mesh is to be moved during the remap step. This option requires
the definition of the 5th parameter in the 2nd card, EFAC; see
below for definition.
EQ.9: Allowing the ALE mesh(es) to:
-Translate and/or rotate to follow a local Lagrangian reference
coordinate system (whose *ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_NODE card
ID is defined by the BCTRAN parameter)
-Expand or contract to enclose a Lagrangian part-set ID defined by
the PRID parameter.
-Has a Lagrangian node ID be defined by the ICR/NID parameter

to be the center of the ALE mesh expansion.
PRID A parameter giving additional information depending on the
reference system (PRTYPE) choice:
PRTYPE= 3: PRID defines a load curve group ID specifying an
*ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_CURVE card for mesh
translation. This defines up to 12 curves which prescribe
the motion of the system.
BCROT For PRTYPE= 4: BCROT is a rotational constraint (remark 3).

EQ.0: no constraints,
EQ.1: constrained x rotation,
EQ.2: constrained y rotation,
EQ.3: constrained z rotation,
EQ.4: constrained x and y rotation,
EQ.5: constrained y and z rotation,
EQ.6: constrained z and x rotation,
EQ.7: constrained x, y, and z rotation.
ICR/NID A flag defining the center of mesh expansion and/or rotation (remark 3).
PRTYPE=4: ICR is a center of mesh expansion and rotation flag,
EQ.0: The center is at center of gravity of the ALE mesh.
EQ.1: The center is at (XC, YC, ZC), just a point in space
(it does not have to be a defined node)
PRTYPE=9: NID (node ID) is a Lagrangian NID. LSDYNA uses
This node as an anchored center of ALE mesh expansion (remark 2).
ALE_SMOOTHING
Purpose: This smoothing constraint keeps a node at its initial parametric location along a
line between two other nodes. This constraint is active during each mesh smoothing operation.
SNID Slave node ID, see Figure 2.1.
MNID1 First master node ID.
MNID2 Second master node ID.
IPRE EQ.0: smoothing constraints are performed after mesh relaxation,
EQ.1: smoothing constraints are performed before mesh relaxation.
XCO x-coordinate of constraint vector
YCO y-coordinate of constraint vector
ZCO z-coordinate of constraint vector
*ALE_TANK_TEST
Purpose: This command allows for the airbag information input (), ( ) gas m t T t of the
control volume (*AIRBAG_) approach to be used as input for the ALE/Eulerian fluid-structure
interaction model of the airbag. It complements and must be used together with
the*SECTION_POINT_SOURCE command. Please, see *SECTION_POINT_SOURCE for
additional information.
MDOTLC LCID for mass flow rate as a function of time. This may be obtained
directly from the control-volume type input data.
TANKVOL Volume of the tank used in a tank test from which the tank pressure is
measured, and ( ) m t and T gas (t) are computed from this tank pressure data.
PAMB The pressure inside the tank before jetting (usually 1bar).
PFINAL The final equilibrated pressure inside the tank from the tank test.
MACHLIM A limiting MACH number for the gas at the throat (MACH=1
preferred).
VELMAX Maximum allowable gas velocity across the inflator orifice (not
preferred).
AORIF Total inflator orifice area (optional, only needed if the
*SECTION_POINT_SOURCE card is not used).
AMMGIDG The ALE multi-material group ID (AMMGID) of the gas.
AMMGIDA The ALE multi-material group ID (AMMGID) of the air.
NUMPNT The number of points in ( ) m t and T gas (t) curves. If NUMPNT=0,
defaults to 50 points.
ENTITY SETS PANEL
The entity sets panel allows you to create, update, and review named sets of entities.
Location: Analysis page – safety module
You can create sets of the following entities: nodes, elements, components, sets, properties,
materials, assemblies, multibodies, ellipsoids, mbjoints, and mbplanes. Depending on the user
profile loaded, only the entities relevant to that solver are enabled. For example, after loading the
Nastran user profile you can only create/update node and element sets.
Name =Enter the name of an entity set to create, or double click the button to select an existing
entity set. Selection options only include sets of the correct entity type (node set, element set
etc.).
Card image = Enter the name of a card image to apply to the set. This field is optional, and
requires that a valid template be specified in the global panel.
Set Type Use this switch to choose the type of set:
non-ordered: This is the default type of set; in non-ordered sets, the sequence of the entities in
the set does not matter. HyperMesh internally stores entities of non-ordered sets in ascending
order regardless of the order in which the entities were selected.
ordered: Ordered sets are those in which the sequence of the entities in the set is critical.
This option is only available for node and element sets. The output for this set of nodes is
always listed in the order in which nodes were selected.
formula: Use this option to create a set based on mathematical ranges, such as creating a set
for nodes with IDs from 1 to 1000.
entity: Use this entity selector to choose entities to be added to the set. When creating a
formula-based set, this selector changes to a switch that allows you to change the entity type, but
not to select the entities themselves (since that is done via the formulae).
create Once a new name and entities are selected, clicking this button creates the set in the
database.Note: when creating formula-based sets, you must click create before you can add
expressions to the formula.
update Select an existing set by double clicking name=, then change the contents of the set by
selecting new entities and clicking update (this clears the set contents and replaces them with the
new selection). To add new entities to an existing set without clearing, review the entities in the
set, then select the new entities to be added, and click update.
review You can review the contents of a set graphically by clicking review and selecting the set
from the list. For component (or props, mats, assemblies, multibodies, etc.) sets, the elements
that belong to corresponding components in the set are highlighted on the screen. You can
identify the components in the set as those that are checked in the list (access the list by clicking
on the entity type).
CONTACT SURFS PANEL
The contactsurfs panel allows you to create and modify contactsurf entities in HyperMesh.
The contactsurf entity, used in most crash solvers, is defined using elements (1D/2D/3D) and
their respective facecodes. A contactsurf is displayed as an arrow on the selected element faces.
The direction of the arrow is along the element normal that defines contactsurfs.
A contactsurf has the following parameters:
· Name
· Color
· Card image
· Elements
To create a contact surf for shells (1D and 2D elements):
1. Select a contactsurf name from the name field.
2. Select a card image from the card image field.
(Please note that a valid template should be loaded.)
3. Select the elements that should be part of the contactsurf entity.
4. Select the desired color of the contactsurf.
5. Click create to create the contactsurf.

The contactsurf is displayed on the faces of all the elements selected to define the contactsurf.
6. If the direction of the contactsurf needs to be opposite to the elements normal, check the
reverse normals box
To update the contactsurf parameters for shells (1D and 2D elements):
The contactsurf to be modified must be the current contactsurf. A contactsurf is current if its
name appears in the name field.
1. To add more elements to the contactsurf definition, select the elements and click add.
7. Check reverse normals, if required.
8. Change the color of the contactsurf using the color panel.
9. Change the card image
Make sure a valid template is loaded.
Select the required card image.
Click card update.
To create contactsurfs for faces (1D, 2D and 3D elements):
1. Select a contactsurf name from the name field.
2. Select a card image from the card image text box. Note that a valid template should be
loaded
3. Select the elements that should be part of the contactsurf entity.
4. Select nodes on face or nodes on edge. Use the node collector to select nodes that denote
a face or an edge to define contactsurf.
nodes on edge is valid for 1D and 2D elements only.
5. Select the desired color of the contactsurf.
6. Enter the break angle to specify the elements for which contactsurf should be defined.
7. Click create to create the contactsurf.

The contactsurf is displayed on the faces/edges of all the elements selected to define the
contactsurf.
8. If the direction of contactsurf needs to be opposite to the elements normal, activate the
reverse normals checkbox.
Note The break angle value is used to determine which of the selected solid or axisymmetric
elements should be part of a contactsurf. On a solid model, once the starting face has been
identified, the normals of the adjacent remaining faces are tested. If the angle between the
normals is less than the break angle, the adjacent element is included in the contactsurf. This
process continues until all of the free faces have been tested. For an axisymmetric model, the
process is similar except that the angle between edges is used instead of the angle between faces.
To update the contactsurf parameters for faces (1D, 2D and 3D elements):
Note The contactsurf to be modified must be the current contactsurf. A

contactsurf is current if its name appears in the name textbox.
1. To add more elements to the contactsurf definition, select the elements and click
add.
2. Select node on face/node on edge and the nodes to define a face or an edge.
3. Activate the reversenormals checkbox, if required.
4. Change the color of the contactsurf using the color panel.
5. Change the card image
- Make sure a valid template is loaded.
- Select the required card image.
- Click card update.
To remove elements that belong to a contactsurf:
1. Select the contactsurf using the contactsurf collector.
The contactsurfs to be updated are highlighted.
2. Select the elements to be removed from its definition.

3. Click remove.
The selected elements are removed.
Undo
Click reject to undo the changes.
To reverse the normal of a contactsurf:
he normal of a contactsurf defines all the faces/edges that will eventually define contact
interface with an adjacent part. For pressures/forces/temperatures, it is the direction in which
they act.
1. Select the contactsurf for which the normal is to be changed.
2. Select by elems/all elems.
by elems allows the modification of contactsurf normal for the selected elements only.
all elems works on all the elements that define the selected contactsurf.
3. Click reverse normals.
Undo
Click reject to undo the changes.
Note This option changes the direction of definition of the contactsurf but does not
change the normal of elements.
INTERFACES PANEL
The allows you to create and modify interfaces. Interfaces are mainly used to define
contact interactions between various parts of the model.
Created interfaces are stored in the HyperMesh database as groups. In addition to

defining contact interactions, the interfaces panel can be used to define a variety of solver-
specific constraints output requests, etc. Due to a large variation in the way various solvers
define these interfaces, HyperMesh requires you to load the necessary solver template while
using this panel. The types of interfaces and the corresponding entities used to define each type
of interface are defined by the solver template. The following solver templates use this panel to
define interfaces: Abaqus; LS-Dyna; Madymo; Nastran; Pamcrash, and Radioss. HyperMesh
templates can be designed to work with dictionaries (old) or card images (new). The interfaces
panel behaves differently for templates with dictionaries verses those defined with card images.
Since most of our solver templates use card images (Abaqus, LS-Dyna; Madymo; Nastran;
Pamcrash, Radioss, etc.), the panels are described below for use with the new templates that use
card images.
The interfaces panel contains the following sub-panels:
Create Sub-Panel Allows you to create a new interface of a given name, type, color,
and card image.
Update Sub-Panel Allows you to update the type (or reset the type) and color of an
interface as well as graphically review the interface.
Add Sub-Panel Allows you to add all the entities that define the group to the
interface. For example, add the master and/or slave elements to a
contact interface. The same sub-panel can be used to update the
existing entities in an interface.
Card Image Sub-Panel Allows you to review the card image of the interface as it
specified by the solver. It also lets you reset an existing interface
card image and assign a different card image.
CONTROL CARDS PANNEL
The panel allows you to set job-level, solver specific data. The available control cards
are defined in the template file.
Location: Analysis Page
When the panel is accessed, the list of available control cards is displayed on the lower,
left portion of the menu. The status for the card in the database is indicated by the color of the
control card’s button.
gray Signifies that the card does not exist in the database.
green Signifies that the card exists in the database and will be written when the export
data panel is used with the current template.
red Signifies that the card exists in the database, but will not be written when the
export data panel is used with the current template.
To edit a control card, select the button of the control card you wish to edit.
To delete a control card:
1. Click delete.
2. Select the control card you wish to delete.

Comments
The control card's button color changes to gray after the control card is deleted. Only control
cards that currently exist in the database (those with a green or red button) can be deleted.
To disable output of a control card:
1. Click disables.
2. Select the control card you wish to disable.
Comments
The control card's button color changes to red after the control card is disabled. Only control
cards that exist in the database and are currently enabled (those with a green button) can be
disabled.
To enable a control card:
1. Click enable.
2. Select the control card you wish to enable.
Comments
The control card's button color changes to green after the control card is enabled. Only control
cards that exist in the database and are currently disabled (those with a red button) can be
enabled.
CONTROL VOLUME PANNAEL
The control vol panel allows you to define control volume objects within a model.
This panel consists of two sub-panels – airbag and reference geometry. The airbag sub-panel
allows you to create the control volumes/airbags using a set of components, elements, or contact
surfs. The reference geometry sub-panel allows you to define a reference geometry for the nodes
of an airbag.
To define a control volume:
1. In the airbag sub-panel, enter the name and select the airbag type.
2. Select a group of elements, a components set, or a contact surf to be included in the
control volume.
3. Click create.
Control volumes can be also be card edited in this panel.

To define a reference geometry:
1. In the reference geometry sub-panel, enter the name and select the reference geometry
type.
2. Select the nodes of the reference geometry.
3. Click create.
Each reference geometry holds the ids of the nodes selected as well as their original nodal
location. After you create the reference geometry, you can manipulate the original mesh (i.e.,
rotate, deform, scale or translate the mesh to simulate airbag folding or other conditions). When
you review reference geometry, it displays the original nodal locations at the time the reference
geometry was created. (In this way, the reference geometry definition can be used to preserve
IMM information for solvers that have these features implemented.) If you delete a node or
element that is a member of a control volume, it also deletes the control volume definition.
Some typical applications for a control volume include:
· Single chamber FE airbag models (define solver specific parameters on the card
previewer)
· Tire models
· Fuel tank models
Note: Due to the varying nature of solver input requirements, it is recommended that you refer
to the External Interfacing section of the HyperMesh on-line help to understand how to use
control volumes for a specific solver.
To define a control volume:
1. Click name = and enter a name for the control volume.
2. Select a card previewer to define the type (solver specific) of control volume that you
wish to generate.
3. Select the elements, sets, or contactsurfs that you wish to include in the control volume
definition.
4. Click create to create the control volume.
5. Click edit to edit the control volume card previewer content.

To review a control volume:
1. Click review.
2. Select the control volume that you wish to review from the control volume list and click
return.
HyperMesh displays the control volume in its reference state.
3. To return to normal view, click review again.
To check the normals of a control volume:
1. Click name = and select the control volume.
2. Click normals.
HyperMesh displays the normals for the elements contained within the control volume. If the
display is already showing the reference state (from the review button) the normals appear on the
reference state. Otherwise, the normals appear on the regular mesh. This feature only works for
elements.
CONSTRAINTS PANEL
The constraints panel allows you to place constraints or enforced displacements on a model.
This is accomplished by assigning a degree of freedom (dof) constraint to the node.
Constraints are load config 3 and are displayed with a triangle that connects to the node, with the
dof numbers that apply to the node beside the triangle.
For more information on how constraints translate to analysis codes, refer to the External
Interfacing section in the HyperMesh on-line help.
VELOCITIES PANEL
The velocities panel allows you to create concentrated velocities. This is accomplished by
applying a load, representing velocities, to a node.
Location: Analysis page
Velocities are load config 8 and are displayed as a vector with the letter V at the tail end.
For more information on how velocities translate to analysis codes, refer to the External
Interfacing section in the HyperMesh Reference Manual.
By default, HyperMesh displays velocities using a representation of 100% of their magnitude.
You can change this percent by entering a different value in the magnitude = field. You can also
use the uniform size option to have all loads displayed as the same size.
Finally, you can remove the on-screen text labels of all velocities by deactivating the label loads
checkbox.
ALE SETUP PANEL
The ALE setup panel allows you to create and modify input data pertaining to the Arbitrary-
Lagrangian-Eulerian LS-DYNA capability.
Location: Analysis Page with Lsdyna User Profile active
The following LS-DYNA cards created in the ALE setup panel.
HyperMesh LS-DYNA Keyword

MultiMatGrp *ALE_MULTI-MATERIAL_GROUP
SetMultiMatGrp *SET_MULTI-MATERIAL_GROUP_LIST
RefSysSwch *ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_SWITCH
RefSysCurve *ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_CURVE
RefSysGrp *ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_GROUP
RefSysNode *ALE_REFERENCE_SYSTEM_NODE
Smoothing *ALE_SMOOTHING
TankTest *ALE_TANK_TEST
ConstdLagSolid *CONSTRAINED_LAGRANGIAN_IN_SOLID
InitialGasMix *INITIAL_GAS_MIXTURE
InitialVoid *INITIAL_VOID
Database_FSI *DATABASE_FSI
BoundAmbEos *BOUNDARY_AMBIENT_EOS
Additional cards related to ALE modeling:
*SECTION_POINT_SOURCE (collector/property panel)
*INITIAL_VOLUME_FRACTION (*Element_Solid card image)
FORCES PANEL
The you to create concentrated forces. This is accomplished by applying a load, representing
forces, to a node, point, set, or component.
Forces are load config 1 and are displayed as a vector with the letter F at the tail end.
For more information on how forces translate to analysis codes, refer to the External Interfacing
section in the HyperMesh Reference Manual.
By default, HyperMesh displays forces using a representation of 100% of their magnitude. You
can change this percentage by entering a different value in the magnitude = field. You can also
use the uniform size option to display all loads with the same size. Finally, you can remove the
on-screen text labels of all forces by deactivating the label loads checkbox.
RIGID WALLS PANEL
The rigid walls panel allows you to create and update rigid walls.
Analysis page
Rigid walls are used to define a contact or sliding rigid wall in an analysis code. Rigid walls in
HyperMesh are groups with configuration 5.
You can define the nodes included in a rigid wall using one of the four methods listed below:
nodes - Create a slave node for each node included in the rigid wall.
components - Provide a list of components. In this case, the analysis code is
provided with a list of component IDs.
sets - Select one or more previously defined entity sets. In this case, the analysis
code is provided with a list of the entity set IDs.
all - Include all the nodes in the model. If you select all, HyperMesh uses the
keyword ALL.
HyperMesh also allows you to select one or more previously defined entity sets. In this case, the
analysis code is provided with a list of the entity set IDs.
The rigid walls panel displays fields for dictionaries or card images depending on the type of
solver template that is referenced. If a card image template is loaded, or no template is loaded,
the panel displays card image related fields. If a dictionary template is loaded, the panel displays
dictionary related fields. Card image and dictionary entry fields are used in the same way except
that when a card image solver is being used and edit is selected, the card image is displayed in a
new area of the screen. For dictionary solvers, the data is shown in the existing menu area.
CONTROL CARDS
The keyword control cards are optional and can be used to change defaults, activate
solution options such as mass scaling, adaptive remeshing, and an implicit solution; however, itis
advisable to define the *CONTROL_TERMINATION card. The ordering of the controlcards
in the input file is arbitrary. To avoid ambiguities, define no more than one controlcard of
each type. The following control cards are organized in an alphabetical order:
*CONTROL_ACCURACY
*CONTROL_ADAPSTEP
*CONTROL_ADAPTIVE
*CONTROL_ALE
*CONTROL_BULK_VISCOSITY
*CONTROL_CFD_AUTO
*CONTROL_CFD_GENERAL
*CONTROL_CFD_MOMENTUM
*CONTROL_CFD_PRESSURE
*CONTROL_CFD_TRANSPORT
*CONTROL_CFD_TURBULENCE
*CONTROL_CHECK_{OPTION}
*CONTROL_COARSEN
*CONTROL_CONTACT
*CONTROL_COUPLING
*CONTROL_CPU
*CONTROL_DYNAMIC_RELAXATION
*CONTROL_EFG
*CONTROL_ENERGY
*CONTROL_EXPLOSIVE_SHADOW
*CONTROL_FORMING_POSITION
*CONTROL_FORMING_TEMPLATE
*CONTROL_FORMING_TRAVEL
*CONTROL_FORMING_USER
*CONTROL_HOURGLASS_{OPTION}
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_AUTO
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_BUCKLE
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_DYNAMICS
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_EIGENVALUE
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_GENERAL
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_INERTIA_RELIEF
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_JOINTS
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_MODES
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_SOLUTION
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_SOLVER
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_STABILIZATION
*CONTROL_MPP_DECOMPOSITION_AUTOMATIC
*CONTROL_MPP_DECOMPOSITION_CHECK_SPEED
*CONTROL_MPP_DECOMPOSITION_CONTACT_DISTRIBUTE
*CONTROL_MPP_DECOMPOSITION_CONTACT_ISOLATE
*CONTROL_MPP_DECOMPOSITION_FILE
*CONTROL_MPP_DECOMPOSITION_METHOD
*CONTROL_MPP_DECOMPOSITION_NUMPROC
*CONTROL_MPP_DECOMPOSITION_RCBLOG
*CONTROL_MPP_DECOMPOSITION_SHOW
*CONTROL_MPP_DECOMPOSITION_TRANSFORMATION
*CONTROL_MPP_IO_NOD3DUMP
*CONTROL_MPP_IO_NODUMP
*CONTROL_MPP_IO_NOFULL
*CONTROL_MPP_IO_SWAPBYTES
*CONTROL_NONLOCAL
*CONTROL_OUTPUT
*CONTROL_PARALLEL
*CONTROL_REMESHING
*CONTROL_RIGID
*CONTROL_SHELL
*CONTROL_SOLID
*CONTROL_SOLUTION
*CONTROL_SPOTWELD_BEAM
*CONTROL_SPH
*CONTROL_STRUCTURED_{OPTION}
*CONTROL_SUBCYCLE
*CONTROL_TERMINATION
*CONTROL_THERMAL_NONLINEAR
*CONTROL_THERMAL_SOLVER
*CONTROL_THERMAL_TIMESTEP
*CONTROL_TIMESTEP
LS-DYNA’s implicit mode may be activated in two ways. Using the

*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_GENERAL keyword, a simulation may be flagged to run entirely
inimplicit mode. Alternatively, an explicit simulation may be seamlessly witched into implicit
mode at the termination time using the*INTERFACE_SPRINGBACK_ SEAMLESS keyword.
The seamless switching feature is intended to simplify metal forming springback calculations,
where the forming phase can be run in explicit mode, followed immediately by an implicit
staticspringback simulation. In case of difficulty, restart capability is supported. Eight keywords
areavailable to support implicit analysis. Default values are carefully selected to minimize input
necessary for most simulations. These are summarized below:
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_GENERAL
Activates implicit mode, selects time step size.
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_INERTIA_RELIEF
Allows linear analysis of models with rigid body modes.
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_SOLVER
Selects parameters for solving system of linear equations [K] {x} ={f}.
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_SOLUTION
Selects linear or nonlinear solution method, convergence tolerances.
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_AUTO
Activates automatic time step control.
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_DYNAMICS
Activates and controls dynamic implicit solution using new mark method.
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_EIGENVALUE
Activates and controls eigenvalue analysis.
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_MODES
Activates and controls computation of constraint and attachment modes.
*CONTROL_IMPLICIT_STABILIZATION
Activates and controls artificial stabilization for multi-step spring back.
*CONTROL_ACCURACY
Purpose: Define control parameters that can improve the accuracy of the calculation.
Card Format
OSU Global flag for 2nd order objective stress updates (See Remark 1 below).
Generally, for explicit calculations only those parts undergoing large
rotations, such as rolling tires, need this option. Objective stress updates
can be activated for a subset of part IDs by defining the part set in
columns 21-30.
EQ.0: Off (default)
EQ.1: On
INN Invariant node numbering for shell and solid elements (See Remarks 2
and 3 below).
EQ.1: Off (default for explicit)
EQ.2: On for shell elements only (default for implicit)
EQ.3: On for solid elements only
EQ.4: On for both shell and solid elements
PIDOSU Part set ID for objective stress updates. If this part set ID is given only
those part IDs listed will use the objective stress update; therefore, OSU
is ignored.
Remarks:
1. Second order objective stress updates are occasionally necessary. Some examples includelarge
strains in a few time steps, and large time step sizes due to mass scaling in metalforming. There
is a significantly added cost which is due in part to the added cost of thesecond order terms in the
stress update when the Jaumann rate is used and the need to
compute the strain-displacement matrix at the mid-point geometry. This option is
available for one point brick elements, the selective-reduced integrated brick element
which uses eight integration points, the fully integrated plane strain and axisymmetric
volume weighted (type 15) 2D solid elements, the fully integrated thick shell element,
and the following shell elements: Belytschko-Tsay, Belytschko-Tsay with warping
stiffness, Belytschko-Chiang-Wong, S/R Hughes-Liu, and the type 16 fully integrated
shell element.
2. Invariant node numbering for shell elements affects the choice of the local element
shellcoordinate system. The orientation of the default local coordinate system is based on
theshell normal vector and the direction of the 1-2 side of the element. If the element
numbering is permuted, the results will change in irregularly shaped elements. With
invariant node numbering, permuting the nodes shifts the local system by an exact
multiple of 90 degrees. In spite of its higher costs [<5%], the invariant local system is
recommended for several reasons. First, element forces are nearly independent of node
sequencing; secondly, the hourglass modes will not substantially affect the material
directions; and, finally, stable calculations over long time periods are achievable.
3. Invariant node numbering for solid elements is available for anisotropic materials only.
This option has no effect on solid elements of isotropic material. This option is
recommended when solid elements of anisotropic material undergo significant
deformation.
*CONTROL_ALE
Purpose: Set global control parameters for the Arbitrary Lagrange-Eulerian (ALE) and Eulerian
calculations. This is required when ELFORM = 5, 6, 7, 11, and 12.
Card Format
DCT Default continuum treatment:

EQ.1: Lagrangian (default),
EQ.2: Eulerian,
EQ.3: Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian,
EQ.4: Eulerian Ambient.
NADV Number of cycles between advections (almost always set to 1).

METH Advection method:
EQ.1: donor cell + HIS (Half-Index-Shift, first order accurate),
EQ.2: Van Leer + HIS (Half-Index-Shift, second order).
EQ.3: donor cell + HIS, first order accurate, conserving total
energy over each advection step instead of conserving
internal energy
AFAC ALE smoothing weight factor - Simple average:

EQ.-1: turn smoothing off. (see remark 6).
BFAC ALE smoothing weight factor – Volume weighting
CFAC ALE smoothing weight factor – Isoparametric
DFAC ALE smoothing weight factor – Equipotential
EFAC ALE smoothing weight factor – Equilibrium
START Start time for ALE smoothing
END End time for ALE smoothing
AAFAC ALE advection factor (donor cell options, default=1.0)
VFACT Volume fraction limit for stresses in single material and void
formulation. All stresses are set to zero for elements with lower volume
fraction than VFACT.
EQ.0.0: set to default 1.0E-06.
PRIT A flag to turn on or off the pressure equilibrium iteration option for
multi-material elements (See Remark 1).
EQ.0. Off (default)
EQ.1. On
EBC Automatic Eulerian boundary condition (see Remark 2).
EQ.0. Off
EQ.1. On with stick condition
EQ.2. On with slip condition
PREF Reference pressure applied to the free surfaces of the ALE mesh
boundary. (See Remark 3).
NSIDEBC A node set ID (NSID) which is to be excluded from the EBC constraint.
NCPL Number of Lagrangian cycles between coupling calculations. This is
typically done every cycle; therefore, its default is 1. This is on optional
card 3.
NBKT Number of Lagrangian cycles between global bucket-sort searches to

locate the position of the Lagrangian structure (mesh) relative to the
ALE fluid (mesh). Default is 50. This is on optional card 3.
IMASCL A flag for turning ON/OFF mass scaling for ALE parts. The global
mass scaling control (parameter DT2MS under *CONTROL_
TIMESTEP card) must be ON. If the run dt is lower than the mass
scaling dt, then IMASCL has the following effects:
EQ.0. (Default) No mass scaling for ALE parts. Print out maximum20
warnings.
EQ.1. No mass scaling for ALE parts. Stop the run.
EQ.2. Do mass scaling for ALE parts (the result may not be correct
due to this scaling).
CHECKR A parameter for reducing or eliminating an ALE pressure locking

pattern. It may range from 0.01 to 0.1 (remark 4).
Remarks:
1. By default, all materials in a multi-material element are assumed to undergo the same
element averaged strain rates. This assumption may not be robust when mixing materials
with very different compressibility. In this case, an assumption of pressure equilibrium
(PRIT=1) in the element may be more appropriate.
2. This option, used for EULER formulations, automatically defines velocity boundary
condition constraints for the user. The constraints, once defined, are applied to all nodes
on free surfaces of an Eulerian domain. For problems where the normal velocity of the
material at the boundary is zero such as injection molding problems, the automatic
boundary condition parameter is set to 2. This will play the same role as the nodal single
point constraint. For EBC=1, the material velocity of all free surface nodes of an
Eulerian domain is set to zero.
3. The PREF definition is equivalent to using the *LOAD_SEGMENT card to provide

pressure loading on the free surfaces of all ALE or Eulerian mesh(es) in a model. This
cannot be used to initialize the internal pressure of the material (that must be done via the
*EOS_ or *BOUNDARY_AMBIENT_EOS cards).
4.At low pressures, due to reduced integration, ALE elements may experience an hourglasslike
locking deformation mode. CHECKR is a scale for diffusive flux calculation to alleviate this
problem.
5. It is impossible to conserve momentum at the same time as conserving all 3 internal

(IE),kinetic (KE) and total energies (TE). Therefore, a decision has to be made about which
energy may be “sacrificed”. METH=3 tries to conserve total energy while adjusting KE and IE
over the advection step.
6. All the smoothing factors (AFAC, BFAC, CFAC, DFAC, EFAC) are generally most
applicable to ELFORM=5 (single material ALE formulation).
7. Although this card has many parameters, only a few are required definitions. Typically,one
can try, as a first run, setting NADV=1, METH=1, AFAC=-1 and the rest as “0”.Sometimes
when needed, PREF may be defined. This is adequate for most cases. METH may be changed to
2 or 3 later depending on the physics of the problem during finetuning of the model.
CONTROL_ENERGY
Purpose: Provide controls for energy dissipation options.
Card Format
HGEN Hourglass energy calculation option. This option requires significant

additional storage and increases cost by ten percent:
EQ.1: hourglass energy is not computed (default),
EQ.2: hourglass energy is computed and included in the energy
balance. The hourglass energies are reported in the ASCII files
GLSTAT and MATSUM, see *DATABASE_OPTION.
RWEN Stonewall energy dissipation option:

EQ.1: energy dissipation is not computed,
EQ.2: energy dissipation is computed and included in the energy
balance (default). The stonewall energy dissipation is reported in
the ASCII file GLSTAT, see *DATABASE_OPTION.
SLNTEN Sliding interface energy dissipation option (This parameter is always set
to 2 if contact is active. The option SLNTEN=1 is not available.):
EQ.1: energy dissipation is not computed,
balance. The sliding interface energy is reported in ASCII files
GLSTAT and SLEOUT, see *DATABASE_OPTION.

RYLEN Rayleigh energy dissipation option (damping energy dissipation):
EQ.1: energy dissipation is not computed (default),
balance. The damping energy is reported in ASCII file GLSTAT,

see *DATABASE_OPTION.
*CONTROL_HOURGLASS_{OPTION}
Which switches the hourglass formulation so that it is identical to that used in version 936 of
LSDYNA.The modification in the hourglass control from version 936 was to ensure that
allcomponents of the hourglass force vector are orthogonal to rigid body rotations.
However,problems that run under version 936 sometimes lead to different results in versions 940
and later.This difference in results is primarily due to the modifications in the hourglass force
vector.Versions released after 936 should be more accurate.
Purpose: Set the default values of the hourglass control to override the default values.
Card Format
IHQ Default hourglass viscosity type:
EQ.1: standard LS-DYNA,

EQ.2: Flanagan-Belytschko integration,
EQ.3: Flanagan-Belytschko with exact volume integration,
EQ.4: stiffness form of type 2 (Flanagan-Belytschko),
EQ.5: stiffness form of type 3 (Flanagan-Belytschko),
EQ.6: Belytschko-Bindeman [1993] assumed strain co-rotational
Stiffness form for 2D and 3D solid elements only. This
form is available for explicit and IMPLICIT solution methods. In
fact, type 6 is mandatory for the implicit options.
EQ.8: Applicable to the type 16 fully integrated shell element.

IHQ=8 activate warping stiffness for accurate solutions. A
speed penalty of 25% is common for this option.
In the shell elements, IHQ < 4 is the viscous form based on Belytschko-
Tsay. If IHQ = 4, 5 or 6, the stiffness form is obtained. The stiffnessforms,
however, can stiffen the response, especially if the deformationsare large,
and therefore should be used with care. For high velocities theviscous
forms are recommended and for low velocities the stiffnessforms are
recommended. For large deformations and non-regular solids,option 3 or 5
is recommended.
QH Default hourglass coefficient, QH. Values of QH that exceed .15 maycause

instabilities. The recommended default applies to all optionsexcept for IHQ=6
Remarks:
1. Hourglass coefficients and type can be set by part ID in the *HOURGLASS Section.
2. Type 6 hourglass control (IHQ=6) is for 2D and 3D solid elements only. Any
underintegrated shell element parts that do not have hourglass type defined by
*HOURGLASS data will be automatically switched to type 4 hourglass control. If this
behavior is not desired, it may be better to use *HOURGLASS to change individual solid
parts to type 6 hourglass control. For a more detailed discussion of type 6 hourglass
control, please see remark 4 in the *HOURGLASS section.
*CONTROL_OUTPUT
Purpose: Set miscellaneous output parameters. This keyword does not control the
information,such as the stress and strain tensors, which is written into the binary databases. For
the latter, seethe keyword *DATABASE_EXTENT_BINARY.
Card Format
NPOPT Print suppression during input phase flag for the printed output file:
EQ.0: no suppression,
EQ.1: nodal coordinates, element connectivities, rigid wall
definitions and initial velocities are not printed.
NEECHO Print suppression during input phase flag for echo file:
EQ.0: all data printed,
EQ.1: nodal printing is suppressed,
EQ.2: element printing is suppressed,
EQ.3: both node and element printing is suppressed.
NREFUP Flag to update reference node coordinates for beam elements. This
option requires that each reference node is unique to the beam:
EQ.0: no update,
EQ.1: update.
IACCOP Averaged accelerations from velocities in file “nodout” and the time
history database file “d3thdt”:
EQ.0: no average (default),
EQ.1: averaged between output intervals,
EQ.2: built-in, or user-defined filtering. With this option the
keyword parameter, DT2MS, on *CONTROL_TIMESTEP must be
defined. All data points between output intervals are stored and
used to obtain the filtered output values. The user defined filter
must be provided and linked. The procedure for handling is not yet
defined. The default filter for IACCOP=2 is a filter provided by
General Motors [Sala, Neal, and Wang, 2004]. Also, see Neal, Lin,
and Wang [2004]. The GM filter is based on a low-pass
Butterworth frequency filter.
OPIFS Output interval for interface file (∆t), see INTRODUCTION, Execution
syntax.
IPNINT Print initial time step sizes for all elements on the first cycle:
EQ.0: 100 elements with the smallest time step sizes are printed.
EQ.1: the governing time step sizes for each element are printed.
IKEDIT Problem status report interval steps to the D3HSP (printed output)
file.This flag is ignored if the GLSTAT file is written, see
*DATABASE_GLSTAT.
IFLUSH Number of time steps interval for flushing I/O buffers. The default
value is 5000. If the I/O buffers are not emptied and an abnormal
termination occurs, the output files can be incomplete. The I/O buffers
for restart files are emptied automatically whenever a restart file is
written so these files are not affected by this option.
IPRTF Default print flag for RBDOUT and MATSUM files. This flag defines
the default value for the print flag which can be defined in the part
definition section, see *PART. This option is meant to reduce the file
sizes by eliminating data which is not of interest.
EQ.0: write part data into both MATSUM and RBDOUT
EQ.1: write data into RBDOUT file only
EQ.2: write data into MATSUM file only
EQ.3: do not write data into RBDOUT and MATSUM
IERODE Output eroded internal and kinetic energy into the MATSUM file. Also,
output the kinetic energy from the added mass under part ID 0. Included
in the added mass are the discrete masses, i.e., *ELEMENT_MASS, and
the nonstructural mass distributions defined in *SECTION_SHELL and
*ELEMENT_MASS_PART.
EQ.0: do not output extra data
EQ.1: output the eroded internal and kinetic energy
TET10 Output ten connectivity nodes into D3PLOT database. The current
default is set to 2 since this change in the database may make the data
unreadable for many popular post-processors and older versions of Lsprepost.The
default will change to 1 later.
EQ.1: write the full ten node connectivity into the D3PLOT
database
EQ.2: write the four corner nodes of the ten node connectivity into
the D3PLOT database
*CONTROL_RIGID
Purpose: Special control options related to rigid bodies and the rigid-flexible bodies, see
*PART_MODES
LMF Switch the explicit rigid body joint treatment to an implicit formulation
which uses Lagrange multipliers to impose prescribed kinematic
boundary conditions and joint constraints. This is a new option which is
under development in version 970. There is a slight cost overhead due
to the assembly of sparse matrix equations which are solved using
standard procedures for nonlinear problems in rigid multi-body
dynamics. Lagrange multiplier flag:
EQ.0: explicit penalty formulation,

EQ.1: implicit formulation with Lagrange multipliers.
JNTF Generalized joint stiffness formulation; see remark 1 below:

EQ.0: incremental update,
EQ.1: total formulation (exact).
ORTHMD Orthogonalize modes with respect to each other:

EQ.0: true.
EQ.1: false, the modes are already orthogonalized.
PARTM Use global mass matrix to determine part mass distribution. This mass
matrix may contain mass from other parts that share nodes. See remark
2 below.
EQ.0: true,
EQ.1: false.
SPARSE Use sparse matrix multiply subroutines for the modal stiffness and
damping matrices. See remark 3.
EQ.0: false, do full matrix multiplies (frequently faster),
EQ.1: true.
MATELF Metal forming option, which should not be used for crash and other
applications involving rigid bodies. Use fast update of rigid body nodes.
If this option is active the rotational motion of all rigid bodies should be
suppressed.
EQ.0: full treatment is used
EQ.1: fast update for metalforming applications
Remarks:
1. As the default, the calculation of the relative angles between two coordinate systems is
done incrementally. This is an approximation, in contrast to the total formulation
where the angular offsets are computed exactly. The disadvantage of the latter
approach is that a singularity exists when an offset angle equals 180 degrees. For most
applications, the stop angles prevent this occurrence and JNTF=1 should not cause a
problem.
2. If the determination of the normal modes included the mass from both connected bodies and
discrete masses, or if there are no connected bodies, then the default is preferred. When the mass
of a given part ID is computed, the resulting mass vector includes the mass of all rigid bodies
that are merged to the given part ID, but does not included discrete masses. See the keyword:
*CONSTRAINED_RIGID_BODIES. A lumped mass matrix is always assumed.
3. Sparse matrix multipliers save a substantial number of operations if the matrix is truly
sparse. However, the overhead will slow the multipliers for densely populated
matrices.
*CONTROL_SOLUTION
Purpose: To specify the analysis solution procedure if thermal only or coupled thermal analysis
is performed.
Card Format
SOLN Analysis solution procedure:

0: Structural analysis only,
1: Thermal analysis only,
2: Coupled structural thermal analysis.
4: Incompressible/low-Mach CFD analysis only,
5: Coupled incompressible fluid-structure interaction. (Not
Currently used.)
CONTROL_SPH
Purpose: Provide controls for computing SPH particles
Card Format
NCBS Number of cycles between particle sorting
BOXID SPH approximations are computed inside a specified BOX. When a

particle has gone outside the BOX, it is deactivated. This will save
computational time by eliminating particles that no longer interact with
the structure.
DT Death time. Determines when the SPH calculations are stopped.
IDIM Space dimension for SPH particles:

3 for 3D problems
2 for 2D plane strain problems
When a value is not specified LS-DYNA determines the space

dimension automatically by checking the use of 3D, 2D or 2D
axisymmetric elements.
MEMORY Defines the initial number of neighbors per particle (see remark below).
FORM Particle approximation theory:

EQ. 0: default formulation,
EQ. 1: renormalization approximation
EQ. 2: symmetric formulation,
EQ. 3: symmetric renormalized approximation
EQ. 4: tensor formulation,
EQ. 5: fluid particle approximation
EQ. 6: fluid particle with renormalization approximation,
START Start time for particle approximation. Particle approximations will be

computed when time of the analysis has reached the value defined in
START.
MAXV Maximum value for velocity for the SPH particles. Particles with a
velocity greater than MAXV are deactivated.
CONT Defines the computation of the particle approximation between two

different SPH parts:
EQ. 0: Particle approximation is defined (default)
EQ. 1: Particle approximation is not computed. Two different SPH
materials will not interact with each others and penetration is
allowed.
DERIV Time integration type for the smoothing length:
INI Computation of the smoothing length during the initialization:

EQ. 0: Bucket sort based algorithm (default, very fast)
EQ. 1: Global computation on all the particles of the model.
Remarks:
1. This variable is for memory allocation of arrays during the initialization phase. It can
be positive or negative. If this value is positive, memory allocation is dynamic.
During the calculation, some particles can request more neighbors and LS-DYNA
Will automatically adapt the size of that variable. Default value should apply for
most applications. If this value is negative, memory allocation is static. During the
calculation and only the closest SPH elements will be considered as neighbors.
Using this option can avoid memory allocation problems.
*CONTROL_TERMINATION
Purpose: Stop the job.
Card Format
ENDTIM Termination time. Mandatory.
ENDCYC Termination cycle. The termination cycle is optional and will be used if
the specified cycle is reached before the termination time. Cycle number
is identical with the time step number.
DTMIN Reduction (or scale) factor for initial time step size to determine
minimum time step, TSMIN. TSMIN=DTSTART*DTMIN where
DTSTART is the initial step size determined by LS-DYNA. When
TSMIN is reached, LS-DYNA terminates with a restart dump.
ENDENG Percent change in energy ratio for termination of calculation. If

undefined, this option is inactive.
ENDMAS Percent change in the total mass for termination of calculation. This
option is relevant if and only if mass scaling is used to limit the
minimum time step size, see *CONTROL_TIMESTEP variable name
“DT2MS”.
Remarks:
1. Termination by displacement may be defined in the *TERMINATION section.
2. If the erosion flag on *CONTROL_TIMESTEP is set (ERODE=1), then the shell

elements and solid elements with time steps falling below TSMIN will be eroded.
*CONTROL_TIMESTEP
Purpose: Set structural time step size control using different options.
Card Format
DTINIT Initial timestep size:

EQ.0.0: LS-DYNA determines initial step size.
TSSFAC Scale factor for computed time step (old name SCFT). See Remark 1
below. (Default = .90; if high explosives are used, the default is lowered
to .67).
ISDO Basis of time size calculation for 4-node shell elements. 3-node shells
use the shortest altitude for options 0,1 and the shortest side for option 2.
This option has no relevance to solid elements, which use a length based
on the element volume divided by the largest surface area.
EQ.0: characteristic length=area/(minimum of the longest side or
the longest diagonal).
EQ.1: characteristic length=area/(longest diagonal).
EQ.2: based on bar wave speed and MAX [shortest side,
area/ (minimum of the longest side or the longest diagonal).]. THIS
LAST OPTION CAN GIVE A MUCH LARGER TIME STEP
SIZE THAT CAN LEAD TO INSTABILITIES IN SOME
APPLICATIONS, ESPECIALLY WHEN TRIANGULAR ELEMENTS
ARE USED.
EQ.3: timestep size is based on the maximum eigenvalue. This
option is okay for structural applications where the material sound
speed changes slowly. The calculation cost to determine the
maximum eigenvalue is significant, but the increase in the time step size
often allows for significantly shorter run times without using mass scaling.
TSLIMT Shell element minimum time step assignment, TSLIMT. When a shell
controls the time step, element material properties (moduli not masses)
will be modified such that the time step does not fall below the assigned
step size. This option is applicable only to shell elements using material
models: *MAT_PLASTIC_KINEMATIC, *MAT_POWER_LAW_
PLASTICITY, *MAT_STRAIN_RATE_DEPENDENT_PLASTICITY,
*MAT_PIECE- WISE_LINEAR_PLASTICITY. This so-called
stiffness scaling option is NOT recommended. The DT2MS option
below applies to all materials and element classes and is preferred. If
both TSLIMT and DT2MS below are active and if TSLIMT is input as a
positive number, then TSLIMT is set to 1.E-18, which makes it inactive.
If TSLIMT is negative and less than |DT2MS|, then |TSLIMT| is applied
prior to the mass being scaled. If |DT2MS| exceeds the magnitude of
TSLIMT, then TSLIMT is set to 1.E-18.
DT2MS Time step size for mass scaled solutions, DT2MS. Positive values are
for quasi-static analyses or time history analyses where the inertial
effects are insignificant. Default = 0.0. If negative, TSSFAC*|DT2MS|
is the minimum time step size permitted and mass scaling is done if and
only if it is necessary to meet the Courant time step size criterion. This
latter option can be used in transient analyses if the mass increases
remain insignificant. See *CONTROL_TERMINATION variable name
“ENDMAS”. WARNING: Super elements, *ELEMENT_DIRECT_
MATRIX_INPUT, are not mass scaled; consequently, DT2MS does not
affect their time step size. In this case an error termination will occur,
and DT2MS will need to be reset to a smaller value.
LCTM Load curve ID that limits the maximum time step size (optional). This
load curve defines the maximum time step size permitted versus time.
If the solution time exceeds the final time value defined by the curve the
computed step size is used. If the time step size from the load curve is
exactly zero, the computed time step size is also used.
ERODE Erosion flag for solid and t-shell elements when TSMIN (see
*CONTROL_TERMINATION) is reached. If this flag is not set the
calculation will terminate:
EQ.0: no,
EQ.1: yes.
MS1ST Limit mass scaling to the first step and fix the mass vector according to
the time steps once. The time step will not be fixed but may drop
during the calculation from the specified minimum:
EQ.0: no,
EQ.1: yes.
DT2MSF Reduction (or scale) factor for initial time step size to determine the
minimum time step size permitted. Mass scaling is done if it is
necessary to meet the Courant time step size criterion. If this option is
used DT2MS= –DT2MSF multiplied by the initial time step size, del t,
before del t is scaled by TSSFAC. This option is active if and only if
DT2MS=0 above.
DT2MSLC Load curve specifying DT2MS as a function of time during the explicit
solutions phase. The load curve can only be used for increasing the
magnitude of DT2MS. Consequently, the magnitude of DT2MS is taken
as the maximum of the current value and the value from the load curve.
Remarks:
1. During the solution we loop through the elements and determine a new time step size by
taking the minimum value over all elements.
where N is the number of elements. The time step size roughly corresponds to the
transient time of an acoustic wave through an element using the shortest characteristic
distance. For stability reasons the scale factor TSSFAC is typically set to a value of .90
(default) or some smaller value. To decrease solution time we desire to use the largest
possible stable time step size. Values larger than .90 will often lead to instabilities.
Some comments follow:
• The sound speed in steel and aluminum is approximately 5mm per microsecond;
therefore, if a steel structure is modeled with element sizes of 5mm, the computed
time step size would be 1 microsecond. Elements made from materials with lower
sound speeds, such as foams, will give larger time step sizes. Avoid excessively
small elements and be aware of the effect of rotational inertia on the time step size in
the Belytschko beam element. Sound speeds differ for each material, for example,
consider:
AIR 331 m/s

WATER 1478
STEEL 5240
TITANIUM 5220
PLEXIGLAS 2598
• Model stiff components with rigid bodies, not by scaling Young’s modulus which can
substantially reduce the time step size.
• The altitude of the triangular element should be used to compute the time step size.
Using the shortest side is okay only if the calculation is closely examined for possible
instabilities. This is controlled by parameter ISDO.
SET
The keyword *SET provides a convenient way of defining groups of nodes, parts,
Elements, segments. The sets can be used in the definitions of contact interfaces, loading
conditions, boundary conditions, and other inputs. Each set type must have a unique numeric
identification. The keyword control cards in this section are defined in alphabetical order:
*SET_BEAM_{OPTION}
*SET_DISCRETE_{OPTION}
*SET_MULTI-MATERIAL_GROUP_LIST
*SET_NODE_{OPTION}
*SET_PART_{OPTION}
*SET_PART_ADD
*SET_SEGMENT_{OPTION}
*SET_2D_SEGMENT_{OPTION}
*SET_SHELL_{OPTION}
*SET_SOLID_{OPTION}
*SET_TSHELL_{OPTION}
An additional option _TITLE may be appended to all the *SET keywords. If this option
is used then an addition line is read for each section in 80a format which can be used to describe
the set. At present LS-DYNA does make use of the title. Inclusion of titles gives greater clarity to input
decks.
The GENERAL option is available for set definitions. In this option, the commands are
executed in the order defined. For example, the delete option cannot delete a node or element
unless the node or element was previously added via a command such as BOX or ALL.
*SET_BEAM_{OPTION}
Available options include:
<BLANK>
GENERATE
GENERAL
The last option, GENERATE, will generate a block of beam element ID’s between a starting ID
and an ending ID. An arbitrary number of blocks can be specified to define the set.
Purpose: Define a set of beam elements.
This set is a combination of a series of options: ALL, ELEM, DELEM, PART, DPART,
BOX, and DBOX.
SID Set ID
K1 First beam element
K2 Second beam element
KNUM Last beam element

BNBEG First beam element ID in block N.
BNEND Last beam element ID in block N. All defined ID’s between
And including BNBEG to BNEND are added to the set. These sets
are generated after all input is read so that gaps in the element
numbering are not a problem. BNBEG and BNEND may simply be
limits on the ID’sand not element ID’s.
OPTION Option for GENERAL. See table below.
E1...E7 Specified entity. Each card must have the option specified.
See table below.
SET_DISCRETE_{OPTION}
The last option, GENERATE, will generate a block of discrete element ID’s between a starting
ID and an ending ID. An arbitrary number of blocks can be specified to define the set.
Purpose: Define a set of discrete elements.
SET_MULTI-MATERIAL_GROUP_LIST
Purpose: This command defines an ALE multi-material set ID (AMMSID) which contains a
Collection of one or more ALE multi-material group ID(s) (AMMGID). This provides a means
for selecting any specific ALE multi-material(s). Application includes, for example, a selection
of any particular fluid(s) to be coupled to in a fluid-structure interaction.
AMMSID An ALE multi-material set ID (AMMSID) which contains a collection
of one or more ALE multi-material group ID(s) (AMMGID).
AMMGID1 The 1st ALE multi-material group ID (AMMGID=1) defined by the 1st
line of the *ALE_MULTI-MATERIAL_GROUP card.
AMMGID8 The 8th ALE multi-material group ID (AMMGID=1) defined by the 8th
line of the *ALE_MULTI-MATERIAL_GROUP card.
Remarks:
1. Please refer to an example in the *CONSTRAINED_LAGRANGE_IN_SOLID section.
*SET_NODE_{OPTION}
The option, LIST_GENERATE, will generate a block of node ID’s between a starting nodal ID
number and an ending nodal ID number. An arbitrary number of blocks can be specified to
define the set.
Purpose: Define a nodal set with some identical or unique attributes.
SID Set identification. All node sets should have a unique set ID.
DA1 First nodal attribute default value, see remark 1 below.
DA2 Second nodal attribute default value
DA3 Third nodal attribute default value
DA4 Fourth nodal attribute default value
NIDN Node ID n
NID Nodal ID
A1 First nodal attribute, see remark 2 below.
A2 Second nodal attribute
A3 Third nodal attribute
A4 Fourth nodal attribute
BNBEG First node ID in block N.
BNEND Last node ID in block N. All defined ID’s between and including
BNBEG to BNEND are added to the set. These sets are generated after
all input is read so that gaps in the node numbering are not a problem.
BNBEG and BNEND may simply be limits on the ID’s and not nodal ID’s.
See table
DA4 Fourth nodal attribute default value
NIDN Node ID n
NID Nodal ID
A1 First nodal attribute, see remark 2 below.
A2 Second nodal attribute
A3 Third nodal attribute
A4 Fourth nodal attribute
BNBEG First node ID in block N.
BNEND Last node ID in block N. All defined ID’s between and including
all input is read so that gaps in the node numbering are not a problem.
BNBEG and BNEND may simply be limits on the ID’s and not nodal ID’s.
See table below.
Remarks:
1. Nodal attributes can be assigned for some input types. For example, for contact option,
*CONTACT_TIEBREAK_NODES_TO_SURFACE the attributes are:
DA1=NFLF Normal failure force,
DA2=NSFLF Shear failure force,
DA3=NNEN Exponent for normal force,
DA4=NMES Exponent for shear force.
2. The default nodal attributes can be overridden on these cards; otherwise, A1=DA1, etc.
SET_PART_{OPTION}
The last option will generate a block of part ID’s between a starting part ID number and an
ending part ID number. An arbitrary number of blocks can be specified to define the part set.
Purpose: Define a set of parts with optional attributes. For the column option, see *AIRBAG or
*CONSTRAINED _RIGID_BODY_STOPPERS.
SID Set ID. All part sets should have a unique set ID.
DA1 First attribute default value, see remark 1 below.
DA2 Second attribute default value
DA3 Third attribute default value
DA4 Fourth attribute default value
PID Part ID
PID1 First part ID

PID2 Second part ID
A1 First part attribute, see remark 2 below.
A2 Second part attribute
A3 Third part attribute
A4 Fourth part attribute
BNBEG First part ID in block N.
BNEND Last part ID in block N. All defined ID’s between and including
all input is read so that gaps in the part numbering are not a problem.
BNBEG and BNEND may simply be limits on the ID’s and not part ID’s.
Remarks:
1. Part attributes can be assigned for some input types. For example, for airbags a time
delay, DA1=T1, can be defined before pressure begins to act along with a time delay,
DA2=T2, before full pressure is applied, (default T2=T1), and for the constraint option,
*CONSTRAINED_RIGID_BODY_STOPPERS one attribute can be defined: DA1, the
closure distance which activates the stopper constraint.
2. The default part attributes can be overridden on the part cards; otherwise, A1=DA1, etc.
SET_PART_ADD
Purpose: Define a part set by combining part sets. The attributes, if any, (see *SET_PART
above) will be taken from the part sets that are combined.
SID Set ID. All part sets should have a unique set ID.
PSIDn The nth part set ID
SET_SEGMENT_{OPTION}
Purpose: Define a set of quadrilateral and triangular segments with optional identical or unique
attributes.
SID Set ID. All segment sets should have a unique set ID.
DA1 First segment attribute default value, see remark 1 below.
DA2 Second segment attribute default value
DA3 Third segment attribute default value
DA4 Fourth segment attribute default value
N1 Nodal point n1
N2 Nodal point n2
N3 Nodal point n3
N4 Nodal point n4, see remark 2 below.

A1 First segment attribute, see remark 3 below.
A2 Second segment attribute
A3 Third segment attribute
A4 Fourth segment attribute
NFLS Normal failure stress
SFLS Shear failure stress. Failure criterion:
E1...E7 Specified entity. Each card must have an option specified.
See table below.
N1 Nodal point n1
N2 Nodal point n2
N3 Nodal point n3
N4 Nodal point n4, see remark 2 below.
A1 First segment attribute, see remark 3 below.
A2 Second segment attribute
A3 Third segment attribute
A4 Fourth segment attribute
NFLS Normal failure stress
SFLS Shear failure stress. Failure criterion:
E1...E7 Specified entity. Each card must have an option specified.
See table below.
Remarks:
1. Segment attributes can be assigned for some input types. For example, for the contact
options, the attributes for the SLAVE surface are:
DA1=NFLS Normal failure stress, *CONTACT_TIEBREAK_SURFACE_contact
Only.
DA2=SFLS Shear failure stress, *CONTACT_TIEBREAK_SURFACE_contact only.
DA3=FSF Coulomb friction scale factor,
DA4=VSF Viscous friction scale factor,
and the attributes for the MASTER surface are:

DA2=VSF Viscous friction scale factor.
For airbags, see *AIRBAG, a time delay, DA1=T1, can be defined before pressure begins
to act on a segment along with a time delay, DA2=T2, before full pressure is applied to
the segment, (default T2=T1), and for the constraint option,
2. To define a triangular segment make n4 equal to n3.

3. The default segment attributes can be overridden on these cards, otherwise, A1=DA1, etc.
SET_2D_SEGMENT _{OPTION}
Define a set of boundary line segments in two-dimensional axisymmetric, plane stress,
and plane strain geometries with optional identical or unique attributes. This option is
recommended for thermal problems, which involve adaptivity.
PID/PSID Part ID or part set ID if SET option is specified.
Remarks:
1. The boundary along r = 0 isn’t included in axisymmetric problems.
2. The common boundary between parts isn’t included in the boundary segments.
SET_SHELL_{OPTION}
The last option will generate a block of shell ID’s between a starting shell ID number
and an ending ID number. An arbitrary number of blocks can be specified to define the shell set.
Purpose: Define a set of shell elements with optional identical or unique attributes.
SID Set ID. All shell sets should have a unique set ID.
DA1 First attribute default value, see remark 1.
DA2 Second attribute default value
DA3 Third attribute default value
DA4 Fourth attribute default value
EID1 First shell element ID, see remark 2.
EID2 Second shell element ID
EID Element ID
A1 First attribute
A2 Second attribute
A3 Third attribute
A4 Fourth attribute
BNBEG First shell ID in shell block N.
BNEND Last shell ID in block N. All defined ID’s between and including
all input is read so that gaps in the element numbering are not a problem.
BNBEG and BNEND may simply be limits on the ID’s and not element
ID’s.
See table below.
EID1 First shell element ID, see remark 2.
EID2 Second shell element ID
EID Element ID
A1 First attribute
A2 Second attribute
A3 Third attribute
A4 Fourth attribute
BNBEG First shell ID in shell block N.
BNEND Last shell ID in block N. All defined ID’s between and including
all input is read so that gaps in the element numbering are not a problem.
BNBEG and BNEND may simply be limits on the ID’s and not element ID’s.
See table below.
Remarks:
1. Shell attributes can be assigned for some input types. For example, for the contact
options, the attributes for the SLAVE surface are:
DA1=NFLS Normal failure stress, *CONTACT_TIEBREAK_SURFACE_contact
only,
DA2=SFLS Shear failure stress, *CONTACT_TIEBREAK_SURFACE_contact only,
DA4=VSF Viscous friction scale factor,
and the attributes for the MASTER surface are:
DA2=VSF Viscous friction scale factor.
2. The default attributes are taken.
3. The default shell attributes can be overridden on these cards; otherwise, A1=DA1, etc.
SET_SOLID_{OPTION}
The last option, GENERATE, will generate a block of solid element ID’s between a
starting ID and an ending ID. An arbitrary number of blocks can be specified to define the set.
Purpose: Define a set of solid elements.
SID Set ID. All solid sets should have a unique set ID.
K1 First element ID
K2 Second element ID
K8 Eighth element ID
BNBEG First solid element ID in block N.
BNEND Last solid element ID in block N. All defined ID’s between and
Including BNBEG to BNEND are added to the set. These sets are
generated after all input is read so that gaps in the element numbering
are not a problem. BNBEG and BNEND may simply be limits on the ID’s
and not element ID’s.
See table below
SET_TSHELL_{OPTION}
The last option, GENERATE, will generate a block of thick shell element ID’s between a
Purpose: Define a set of thick shell elements.
SET_TSHELL_{OPTION}
The last option, GENERATE, will generate a block of thick shell element ID’s between a
Purpose: Define a set of thick shell elements.
SID Set ID. All tshell sets should have a unique set ID.
K1 First thick shell element ID
K2 Second thick shell element ID
K8 Eighth thick shell element ID
BNBEG First thick shell element ID in block N.

BNEND Last thick shell element ID in block N. All defined ID’s
between and including BNBEG to BNEND are added to the set.
These sets are generated after all input is read so that gaps in the
element numbering are not a problem. BNBEG and BNEND may simply
be limits on the ID’s and not element ID’s.
See table below.
DATABASE_OPTION
Options for ASCII files include. If a file is not specified in the restart deck then the output
interval for the file will remain unchanged.
SECFORC Cross section forces.
RWFORC Wall forces.
NODOUT Nodal point data.
ELOUT Element data.
GLSTAT Global data.
DEFORC Discrete elements.
MATSUM Material energies.
NCFORC Nodal interface forces.
RCFORC Resultant interface forces.
DEFGEO Deformed geometry file
SPCFORC Set dt for spc reaction forces.
SWFORC Nodal constraint reaction forces (spotwelds and rivets).
ABSTAT Set dt for airbag statistics.
NODFOR Set dt for nodal force groups.
BNDOUT Boundary condition forces and energy
RBDOUT Set dt for rigid body data.
GCEOUT Set dt for geometric contact entities.
SLEOUT Set dt for sliding interface energy.
JNTFORC Set dt for joint force file.
SBTOUT Set dt for seat belt output file.
AVSFLT Set dt for AVS database.
MOVIE Set dt for MOVIE.
MPGS Set dt for MPGS.
TPRINT Set dt for thermal file.
SECTION
In this section, the element formulation, integration rule, nodal thicknesses, and cross
sectional properties are defined. All section identifiers (SECID’s) defined in this section must be
Unique, i.e., if a number is used as a section ID for a beam element then this number cannot be
Used again as a section ID for a solid element. The keyword cards in this section are defined in
Alphabetical order:
*SECTION_BEAM
*SECTION_DISCRETE
*SECTION_POINT_SOURCE
*SECTION_POINT_SOURCE_MIXTURE
*SECTION_SEATBELT
*SECTION_SHELL_{OPTION}
*SECTION_SOLID_{OPTION}
*SECTION_SPH_{OPTION}
*SECTION_TSHELL
The location and order of these cards in the input file are arbitrary.
An additional option _TITLE may be appended to all the *SECTION keywords. If this option
is used then an addition line is read for each section in 80a format which can be used to describe
the section. At present LS-DYNA does make use of the title. Inclusion of titles gives greater
clarity to input decks.
SECTION_BEAM
Purpose: Define cross sectional properties for beam, truss, discrete beam, and cable elements.
SECID Section ID. SECID is referenced on the *PART card. A unique number
or label not exceeding 8 characters must be specified.
ELFORM Element formulation options:

EQ.1: Hughes-Liu with cross section integration (default),
EQ.2: Belytschko-Schwer resultant beam (resultant),
EQ.3: truss (resultant), see remark 2.
EQ.4: Belytschko-Schwer full cross-section integration,
EQ.5: Belytschko-Schwer tubular beam with cross-section integration,
EQ.6: discrete beam/cable,
EQ.7: 2D plane strain shell element (xy plane),
EQ.8: 2D axisymmetric volume weighted shell element (xy plane),
EQ.9: spotweld beam, see *MAT_SPOTWELD.
EQ.11: integrated warped beam
EQ.12: resultant warped beam
Note that the 2D and 3D element types must not be mixed, and different
types of 2D elements must not be used together. For example, the plane
strain element type must not be used with the axisymmetric element
type. In 3D the different beam elements types, i.e., 1-6 and 9 can be
freely mixed together.
SHRF Shear factor. This factor is not needed for truss, resultant beam, discrete
beam, and cable elements. The recommended value for rectangular sections
is 5/6, the default is 1.0.
SECTION_BEAM
QR/IRID Quadrature rule or rule number for user defined rule for integrated
beams:
EQ.1.0: one integration point,
EQ.2.0: 22 Gauss quadrature (default beam),
EQ.3.0: 33 Gauss quadrature,
EQ.4.0: 33 Lobatto quadrature,
EQ.5.0: 44 Gauss quadrature
EQ.-n: where |n| is the number of the user defined rule. IRID
integration rule n is defined using *INTEGRATION_BEAM card.
CST Cross section type, not needed for truss, resultant beam, discrete beam,
and cable elements:
EQ.0.0: rectangular,
EQ.1.0: tubular (circular only),
EQ.2.0: arbitrary (user defined integration rule).
SCOOR Location of triad for tracking the rotation of the discrete beam element,
see the parameter CID below. The force and moment resultants in the
output databases are referenced to this triad. The flags -3.0, -1.0, 0.0,
1.0, and 3.0 are inactive if the option to update the local system is active
in the CID definition.
EQ.-3.0: beam node 1, the angular velocity of node 1 rotates triad,
EQ.-2.0: beam node 1, the angular velocity of node 1 rotates triad
but the r-axis is adjusted to lie along the line between the two beam
nodal points. This option is not recommended for zero length
discrete beams.,
EQ.-1.0: beam node 1, the angular velocity of node 1 rotates triad,
EQ. 0.0: centered between beam nodes 1 and 2, the average
angular velocity of nodes 1 and 2 is used to rotate the triad,
EQ.+1.0: beam node 2, the angular velocity of node 2 rotates triad.
but the r-axis is adjusted to lie along the line between the two beam
nodal points. This option is not recommended for zero length
discrete beams.
If the magnitude of SC00R is less than or equal to unity then zero length
discrete beams are assumed with infinitesimal separation between the
nodes in the deformed state. For large separations or nonzero length
beams set |SCOOR| to 2 or 3.
NSM Nonstructural mass per unit length. This option applies to beam types 1-
5 and does not apply to discrete, 2D, and spot weld beams, respectively.
TS1 Beam thickness (CST=0.0, 2.0) or outer diameter (CST = 1.0) in s

direction at node n1. Note that the thickness defined on the
*ELEMENT_ BEAM_THICKNESS card overrides the definition give here.
TS2 Beam thickness (CST=0.0, 2.0) or outer diameter (CST = 1.0) in s
direction at node n2. For truss elements only, it is the ramp up time for
the stress initialization by dynamic relaxation.
TT1 Beam thickness (CST=0.0, 2.0) or inner diameter (CST = 1.0) in t
direction at node n1. For truss elements only, it is the stress for the
initialization of the stress by dynamic relaxation.
TT2 Beam thickness (CST=0.0, 2.0) or inner diameter (CST = 1.0) in t
direction at node n2.
NSLOC Location of reference surface normal to s axis for Hughes-Liu beam
elements only:
EQ.1.0: side at s=1.0,
EQ.0.0: center,
EQ.-1.0: side at s = -1.0.
NTLOC Location of reference surface normal to t axis for Hughes-Liu beam
elements only:
EQ.1.0: side at t =1.0,
EQ.0.0: center,
EQ.-1.0: side at t = -1.0.
A Cross-sectional area. The definition on *ELEMENT_BEAM_
THICKNESS overrides the value defined here, see Figure 30.1.
ISS Iss. The definition on *ELEMENT_BEAM_THICKNESS overrides the
value defined here, see Figure 30.1.
ITT Itt. The definition on *ELEMENT_BEAM_THICKNESS overrides the
value defined here, see Figure 30.1.
IRR Irr, torsional constant. The definition on *ELEMENT_BEAM_
THICKNESS overrides the value defined here, see Figure 30.1. If IRR
is zero, then IRR is reset to the sum of ISS+ITT as an approximation.
SA Shear area. The definition on *ELEMENT_BEAM_THICKNESS
overrides the value defined here, see Figure 30.1.
SECTION_BEAM
RAMPT Optional ramp-up time for dynamic relaxation. At the end of the rampup
time, a uniform stress, STRESS, will exist in the truss in the truss
element. This option will not work for hyperelastic materials.
STRESS Optional initial stress for dynamic relaxation. At the end of dynamic
relaxation a uniform stress equal to this value should exist in the truss
element.
STYPE Section type (A format):
EQ.SECTION_01: I-shape EQ.SECTION_12: Cross
EQ.SECTION_02: Channel EQ.SECTION_13: H-shape
EQ.SECTION_03: L-shape EQ.SECTION_14: T-shape1
EQ.SECTION_04: T-shape EQ.SECTION_15: I-shape2
EQ.SECTION_05: Tubular box EQ.SECTION_16: Channel1
EQ.SECTION_06: Z-shape EQ.SECTION_17: Channel2
EQ.SECTION_07: Trapezoidal EQ.SECTION_18: T-shape2
EQ.SECTION_08: Circular EQ.SECTION_19: Box-shape1
EQ.SECTION_09: Tubular EQ.SECTION_20: Hexagon
EQ.SECTION_10: I-shape1 EQ.SECTION_21: Hat-shape
EQ.SECTION_11: Solid box EQ.SECTION_22: Hat-shape1
INER Mass moment of inertia for the six degree of freedom discrete beam.
This lumped inertia is partitioned to the two nodes of the beam element.
The rotational time step size for the type 6 beam is dependent on the
lumped inertia and the rotational stiffness values, so it is important to
define this parameter if the rotational springs are active. Defining the
rotational inertia is also essential for mass scaling if the type 6 beam
rotational stiffness controls the time step size.
CID Coordinate system ID for orientation (material types 66-69, 93, 95, 97),
see *DEFINE_COORDINATE_option. If CID=0, a default coordinate
system is defined in the global system or on the third node of the beam,
which is used for orientation. This option is not defined for material
types than act between two nodal points, such as cable elements. The
coordinate system rotates with the discrete beam, see SCOOR above.
CA Cable area, materials type ID 71, *MAT_CABLE.
OFFSET Offset for cable. For a definition see materials type ID 71, *MAT_CABLE.
RRCON r-rotational constraint for local coordinate system
EQ.0.0: Coordinate ID rotates about r axis with nodes.
EQ.1.0: Rotation is constrained about the r-axis
SRCON s-rotational constraint for local coordinate system
EQ.0.0: Coordinate ID rotates about s axis with nodes.
EQ.1.0: Rotation is constrained about the s-axis
TRCON t-rotational constraint for local coordinate system
EQ.0.0: Coordinate ID rotates about t axis with nodes.
EQ.1.0: Rotation is constrained about the t-axis
DOFN1 Active degree-of-freedom at node 1, a number between 1 and 6
where 1 in x-translation and 4 is x-rotation.
DOFN2 Active degree-of-freedom at node 2, a number between 1 and 6.
PRINT Output spot force resultant from spot welds.
EQ.0.0: Data is output to SWFORC file.
EQ.1.0: Output is suppressed.
SECTION_DISCRETE
Purpose: Defined spring and damper elements for translation and rotation. These definitions
must correspond with the material type selection for the elements, i.e., *MAT_SPRING_... and
*MAT_DAMPER
DRO Displacement/Rotation Option:
EQ.0: the material describes a translational spring/damper,
EQ.1: the material describes a torsional spring/damper.
KD Dynamic magnification factor. See remarks 1 and 2 below.
V0 Test velocity
CL Clearance. See remark 3 below.
FD Failure deflection (twist for DRO=1). Negative for compression,
positive for tension.
CDL Deflection (twist for DRO=1) limit in compression. See remark 4 below.
TDL Deflection (twist for DRO=1) limit in tension. See remark 4 below.
SECTION_SEATBELT
Purpose: Define section properties for the seat belt elements. This card is required for the
SECID Section ID. A unique number or label not exceeding 8 characters must
SECTION_SHELL
Purpose: Define section properties for shell elements.
ELFORM Element formulation options, see Remarks 1 and 2 below:
EQ.1: Hughes-Liu,
EQ.2: Belytschko-Tsay,
EQ.3: BCIZ triangular shell,
EQ.4: C0 triangular shell,
EQ.5: Belytschko-Tsay membrane,
EQ.6: S/R Hughes-Liu,
EQ.7: S/R co-rotational Hughes-Liu,
EQ.8: Belytschko-Leviathan shell,
EQ.9: Fully integrated Belytschko-Tsay membrane,
EQ.10: Belytschko-Wong-Chiang,
EQ.11: Fast (co-rotational) Hughes-Liu,
EQ.12: Plane stress (x-y plane),
EQ.13: Plane strain (x-y plane)
EQ.14: Axisymmetric solid (y-axis of symmetry) - area weighted,
EQ.15: Axisymmetric solid (y-axis of symmetry) - volume
weighted,
EQ.16: Fully integrated shell element (very fast),
EQ.17: Fully integrated DKT, triangular shell element ,
EQ.18: Fully integrated linear DK quadrilateral/triangular shell
EQ.20: Fully integrated linear assumed strain C0 shell (See
remarks).
EQ.21: Fully integrated linear assumed strain C0 shell (5 DOF).
EQ.22: Linear shear panel element (3 DOF per node, see remarks)
EQ.23: 8-node quadratic quadrilateral shell (under development)
EQ.24: 6-node quadratic triangular shell (under development)
EQ.26: Fully integrated shell with thickness stretch.
EQ.31: 1 point Eulerian Navier-Stokes
EQ.43: Mesh-free plane strain formulation (x-y plane).
EQ.44: Mesh-free axisymmetric solid formulation (y-axis of
symmetry).
EQ.99: Simplified linear element for time-domain vibration
studies. See remark 5 below.
SHRF Shear correction factor which scales the transverse shear stress. The
shell formulations in LS-DYNA, with the exception of the BCIZ and
DK elements, are based on a first order shear deformation theory that
yields constant transverse shear strains which violates the condition of
zero traction on the top and bottom surfaces of the shell. The shear
correction factor is attempt to compensate for this error. A suggested
value is 5/6 for isotropic materials. This value is incorrect for sandwich
or laminated shells; consequently, laminated/sandwich shell theory is
now an option in some of the constitutive models, e.g., material types
22, 54, and 55.
NIP Number of through thickness integration points. Either Gauss
(default) or Lobatto integration can be used. The flag for Lobatto
integration can be set on the control card, *CONTROL_SHELL. The
location of the Gauss and Lobatto integration points are tabulated below.
EQ.0.0: set to 2 integration points for shell elements.
EQ.1.0: 1 point (no bending)
EQ.2.0: 2 point
EQ.3.0: 3 point
EQ.4.0: 4 point
EQ.5.0: 5 point
EQ.6.0: 6 point
EQ.7.0: 7 point
EQ.8.0: 8 point
EQ.9.0: 9 point
EQ.10.: 10 point
GT.10.: trapezoidal or user defined rule
QR/IRID Quadrature rule or Integration rule ID, see *INTEGRATION_SHELL:
LT.0.0: absolute value is specified rule number,
EQ.0.0: Gauss/Lobatto (up to 10 points are permitted),
EQ.1.0: trapezoidal, not recommend for accuracy reasons.
SECTION_SHELL
EDGSET Edge node set required for shell type seatbelts. Input an ordered set of
nodes along one of the transverse edges of a seatbelt. If there is no
retractor associated with a belt, the node set can be on either edge. If the
retractor exists, the edge must be on the retractor side and input in the
same sequence of retractor node set. Therefore, another restriction on
the seatbelt usage is that each belt has its own section definition and,
therefore, a unique part ID. See Figure 13.2 in the section *ELEMENT
_SEATBELT for additional clarification.
B1 1, material angle at first integration point

B2 2, material angle at second integration point
B3 3, material angle at third integration point
B8 8, material angle at eighth integration point
Bnip nip, material angle at nipth integration point
AFAC Smoothing weight factor - Simple average:
EQ.-1: turn smoothing off.
BFAC Smoothing weight factor - Volume weighting
CFAC Smoothing weight factor - Isoparametric
DFAC Smoothing weight factor - Equipotential
EFAC Smoothing weight factor - Equilibrium
START Start time for smoothing
END End time for smoothing
AAFAC ALE advection factor
DX,DY Normalized dilation parameters of the kernel function in X and Y
directions. The normalized dilation parameters of the kernel function are
introduced to provide the smoothness and compact support properties on
the construction of the mesh-free shape functions. Values between 1.0 and
2.0 are recommended. Values smaller than 1.0 are not allowed. Larger
values will increase the computation time and will sometimes result in a
divergence problem. See Remark 6.
ISPLINE Replace the choice for the EFG kernel functions definition in
*CONTROL_EFG. This allows users to define different ISPLINE in
different sections.
IDILA Replace the choice for the normalized dilation parameter definition in
*CONTROL_EFG. This allows users to define different IDILA in
different sections.
NIPP Number of in-plane integration points for user-defined shell (0 if
resultant/discrete element)
NXDOF Number of extra degrees of freedom per node for user-defined shell
IUNF Flag for using nodal fiber vectors in user-defined shell:
EQ.0: Nodal fiber vectors are not used.
EQ.1: Nodal fiber vectors are used.
IHFG Flag for using hourglass stabilization (NIPP.GT.0)
EQ.0: Hourglass stabilization is not used
EQ.1: LS-DYNA hourglass stabilization is used
EQ.2: User-defined hourglass stabilization is used
EQ.3: Same as 2, but the resultant material tangent moduli are
passed
ITAJ Flag for setting up finite element matrices (NIPP.GT.0)
EQ.0: Set up matrices wrt isoparametric domain
EQ.1: Set up matrices wrt physical domain
LMC Number of property parameters
NHSV Number of history variables
ILOC Coordinate system option:
EQ.0: Pass all variables in LS-DYNA local coordinate system
EQ.1: Pass all variables in global coordinate system
XI First isoparametric coordinate
ETA Second isoparametric coordinate
WGT Isoparametric weight
PI Ith property parameter
SECTION_SOLID
Purpose: Define section properties for solid continuum and fluid elements.
ELFORM Element formulation options, (see remark 3 below):
EQ.0: 1 point corotational for *MAT_MODIFIED_HONEYCOMB.
See remark 4 below.
EQ.1: constant stress solid element (default),
EQ.2: fully integrated S/R solid. See remark 5 below,
EQ.3: fully integrated quadratic 8 node element with nodal rotations,
EQ.4: S/R quadratic tetrahedron element with nodal rotations,
EQ.5: 1 point ALE,
EQ.6: 1 point Eulerian,
EQ.7: 1 point Eulerian ambient,
EQ.8: acoustic,
EQ.9: 1 point corotational for *MAT_MODIFIED_HONEYCOMB.
See remark 4 below.
EQ.10: 1 point tetrahedron.
EQ.11: 1 point ALE multi-material element
EQ.12: 1 point integration with single material and void.
EQ.13: 1 point nodal pressure tetrahedron for bulk forming.
EQ.14: 8 point acoustic
EQ.15: 2 point pentahedron element.
EQ.16: 5 point 10 noded tetrahedron
EQ.18: 8 point enhanced strain solid element for linear statics only
EQ.19: 4 point cohesive element
EQ.20: 4 point cohesive elements with offsets for use with shells
EQ.41: Mesh-free solid formulation
EQ.99: simplified linear element for time-domain vibration studies
(see remarks)
GT.100.and.LT.106 : User defined solid
AET Ambient Element type: Can be defined for ELFORM 7, 11 and 12.
EQ.1: temperature (not currently available),
EQ.2: pressure and temperature (not currently available),
EQ.3: pressure outflow,
EQ.4: pressure inflow. (Default for ELFORM 7)
AFAC Smoothing weight factor - Simple average:
EQ.-1: turn smoothing off.
BFAC Smoothing weight factor - Volume weighting
CFAC Smoothing weight factor - Isoparametric
DFAC Smoothing weight factor - Equipotential
START Start time for smoothing
END End time for smoothing
AAFAC ALE advection factor
DX, DY, DZ Normalized dilation parameters of the kernel function in X, Y and Z
directions. The normalized dilation parameters of the kernel function
are introduced to provide the smoothness and compact support
properties on the construction of the mesh-free shape functions. Values
between 1.0 and 1.5 are recommended. Values smaller than 1.0 are not
allowed. Larger values will increase the computation time and will
sometimes result in a divergence problem. See Remark 7.
ISPLINE Replace the choice for the EFG kernel functions definition in
*CONTROL_EFG. This allows users to define different ISPLINE in
different sections.
EQ.0: Cubic spline function (default).
EQ.1: Quadratic spline function.
EQ.2: Cubic spline function with circular shape.
IDILA Replace the choice for the normalized dilation parameter definition in
*CONTROL_EFG. This allows users to define different IDILA in
different sections.
EQ.0: Maximum distance based on the background elements.
EQ.1: Maximum distance based on surrounding nodes.
IEBT Essential boundary condition treatment: See Remark 10 and 11.
EQ. 1 : Full transformation method (default)
EQ.-1 : (w/o transformation)
EQ. 2 : Mixed transformation method
EQ. 3 : Coupled FEM/EFG method
EQ. 4 : Fast transformation method
EQ.-4 : (w/o transformation)
EQ.5: Fluid particle method for E.O.S and
*MAT_ELASTIC_FLUID materials
IDIM Domain integration method: See Remark 12.
EQ.1 : Local boundary integration (default)
EQ.2 : Two-point Gauss integration
EQ.3 : Improved Guass integration for IEBT=4 or -4
TOLDEF Deformation tolerance for the activation of adaptive EFG Semi-
Lagrangian and Eulerian kernel. See Remark 13.
= 0.0 : Lagrangian kernel
> 0.0 : Semi_Lagrangian kernel
< 0.0 : Eulerian kernel
NIP Number of integration points for user-defined solid (0 if resultant/
discrete element)
NXDOF Number of extra degrees of freedom per node for user-defined solid
IHGF Flag for using hourglass stabilization (NIP.GT.0)
EQ.0: Hourglass stabilization is not used
EQ.1: LS-DYNA hourglass stabilization is used
EQ.2: User-defined hourglass stabilization is used
EQ.3: Same as 2, but the resultant material tangent modulus is passed
ITAJ Flag for setting up finite element matrices (NIP.GT.0)
EQ.0: Set up matrices wrt isoparametric domain
EQ.1: Set up matrices wrt physical domain
LMC Number of property parameters
NHSV Number of history variables
XI First isoparametric coordinate
ETA Second isoparametric coordinate
WGT Isoparametric weight
PI Ith property parameter
DATABASE
The database definitions are optional, but are necessary to obtain output files containing
results information. In this section the database keywords are defined in alphabetical order:
*DATABASE_OPTION
*DATABASE_ADAMS
*DATABASE_BINARY_OPTION
*DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_OPTION1_{OPTION2}
*DATABASE_EXTENT_OPTION
*DATABASE_FORMAT
*DATABASE_FSI
*DATABASE_HISTORY_OPTION
*DATABASE_NODAL_FORCE_GROUP
*DATABASE_SPRING_FORWARD
*DATABASE_SUPERPLASTIC_FORMING
*DATABASE_TRACER
The ordering of the database definition cards in the input file is completely arbitrary.
DT Time interval between outputs. If DT is zero, no output is printed.
BINARY Flag for binary file
EQ.1: ASCII file is written. This is the default on serial and shared
memory computers.
EQ.2: Data written to a binary database, which contains data that
would otherwise be output to the ASCII file. The ASCII file in this
case is not created. This is the default on distributed memory
computers.
EQ.3: ASCII file is written and the data is also written to the binary
database (NOTE: this option is only valid for serial and shared
memory computers – distributed memory computers will only
produce the binary database).
LCUR Loadcurve - Reserved for future use.
DTHF Optional input for the NODOUT file option only. Time interval
between outputs for the high frequency file, NODOUTHF. If DTHF is
zero, no output is printed. Nodal points that are to be output at a higher
frequency are flagged in the DATABASE_HISTORY input.
BINHF Optional input for the NODOUTHF file only. Flag for binary file for the
high frequency NODOUTHF file. See BINARY above.
The file names and corresponding unit numbers are:
I/O UNIT # FILE NAME
Airbag statistics i/o unit #43 ABSTAT
ASCII database i/o unit #44 AVSFLT
Boundary conditions i/o unit #46 BNDOUT (nodal forces and energies)
Smug animator database i/o unit#40 DEFGEO
Discrete elements i/o unit#36 DEFORC
DATABASE_BINARY)
Options for binary output files with the default names given include:
D3DRLF Dynamic relaxation database.
D3DUMP Binary output restart files. Define output frequency in cycles.
D3MEAN Averaging interval and statistics level for mean value database.
D3PART Dt for partial output states See also *DATABASE_EXTENT_BINARY.
D3PLOT Dt for complete output states. See also *DATABASE_EXTENT_BINARY.
D3THDT Dt for time history data of element subsets. See *DATABASE_HISTORY.
FSIFOR ALE interface force database (please see remark 2).
RUNRSF Binary output restart file. Define output frequency in cycles.
INTFOR Dt for output of contact interface data (file name must be given on the
execution line using "S="). Also see *CONTACT variables mpr and spr.
XTFILE Flag to specify output of extra time history data to XTFILE at same time as
D3THDT file. The following card is left blank for this option.
D3CRACK Dt for output of crack data file for the Winfrith concrete model.
DT Time interval between outputs.

CYCL Output interval in time steps (a time step is a cycle). For the D3DRFL
file a positive number 'n' will cause plot dumps to be written at every
n'th convergence check interval specified on the *CONTROL_
DYNAMIC_RELAXATION card.
NR Number of Running restart files, RUNRSF, written in a cyclical fashion.
The default number is one, i.e. the same file is overwritten each time.
DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID
The cards in this section are defined in alphabetical order and are as follows:
*DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID
*DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID_AUTOMATIC
*DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID_INERTIA
If one of these cards is defined, then any deformable part defined in the model may be
switched to rigid during the calculation. Parts that are defined as rigid (*MAT_RIGID) in the
input are permanently rigid and cannot be changed to deformable. Deformable parts may be
switched to rigid at the start of the calculation by specifying them on the
*DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID card.
Part switching may be specified on a restart (see RESTART section of this manual) or it
may be performed automatically by use of the *DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID_AUTOMATIC
cards. The *DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID_INERTIA cards allow inertial properties to be defined
for deformable parts that are to be swapped to rigid at a later stage. It is not possible to perform
part material switching on a restart if it was not flagged in the initial analysis. The reason for this
is that extra memory needs to be set up internally to allow the switching to take place. If part
switching is to take place on a restart, but no parts are to be switched at the start of the
calculation, no inertia properties for switching and no automatic switching sets are to be defined,
then just define one *DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID card without further input.
DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID
Purpose: Define materials to be switched to rigid at the start of the calculation.
PID Part ID of the part which is switched to a rigid material, also see *PART.
MRB Part ID of the master rigid body to which the part is merged. If zero, the
part becomes either an independent or master rigid body.
DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID_AUTOMATIC
Purpose: Define a set of parts to be switched to rigid or to deformable at some stage in the
calculation.
SWSET Set number for this automatic switch set. Must be unique.
CODE Activation switch code. Defines the test to activate the automatic
material switch of the part:
EQ.0: switch takes place at time 1,
EQ.1: switch takes place between time 1 and time 2 if rigid wall
Force (specified below) is zero,
EQ.2: switch takes place between time 1 and time 2 if contact
Surface force (specified below) is zero,
EQ.3: switch takes place between time 1 and time 2 if rigid wall
force (specified below) is non-zero,
EQ.4: switch takes place between time 1 and time 2 if contact
surface force (specified below) is non-zero.
TIME 1 Switch will not take place before this time.
TIME 2 Switch will not take place after this time:
EQ.0 Time 2 set to 1.0e20.
TIME 3 Delay period. After this part switch has taken place, another automatic
switch will not take place for the duration of the delay period. If set to
zero a part switch may take place immediately after this switch.
ENTNO Rigid wall/contact surface number for switch codes 1, 2, 3, 4.
RELSW Related switch set. The related switch set is another automatic switch
set that must be activated before this part switch can take place:
EQ.0: no related switch set.
PAIRED Define a pair of related switches.
EQ. 0: not paired
EQ. 1: paired with switch set RELSW and is the Master switch.
EQ.-1: paired with switch set RELSW and is the Slave switch.
NRBF Flag to delete or activate nodal rigid bodies.
If nodal rigid bodies or generalized, weld definitions are active in the
deformable bodies that are switched to rigid, then the definitions
should be deleted to avoid instabilities:
EQ.0: no change,
EQ.1: delete,
EQ.2: activate.
NCSF Flag to delete or activate nodal constraint set.
If nodal constraint/spotweld definitions are active in the deformable
bodies that are switched to rigid, then the definitions should be deleted
to avoid instabilities:
EQ.0: no change,
EQ.1: delete,
EQ.2: activate.
RWF Flag to delete or activate rigid walls:
EQ.0: no change,
EQ.1: delete,
EQ.2: activate.
DTMAX Maximum permitted time step size after switch.
D2R Number of deformable parts to be switched to rigid plus number
of rigid parts for which new master/slave rigid body combinations will
be defined:
EQ.0: no parts defined.
R2D Number of rigid parts to be switched to deformable:
EQ.0: no parts defined.
PID Part ID of the part, which is switched to a rigid material.
MRB Part ID of the master rigid body to which the part is merged. If zero, the
part becomes either an independent or master rigid body.
PID Part ID of the part, which is switched to a deformable material.
DEFORMABLE_TO_RIGID_INERTIA
Purpose: Inertial properties can be defined for the new rigid bodies that are created when the
Deformable parts are switched. These can only be defined in the initial input if they are needed
in a later restart. Unless these properties are defined, LS-DYNA will recompute the new rigid
body properties from the finite element mesh. The latter requires an accurate mesh description.
When rigid bodies are merged to a master rigid body, the inertial properties defined for the
Master rigid bodies apply to all members of the merged set.
HOURGLASS
Purpose: Define hourglass and bulk viscosity properties which are referenced via
HGID in the *PART command. Properties specified here, when invoked for a particular part,
override those in *CONTROL_HOURGLASS and *CONTROL_BULK_VISCOSITY.
An additional option _TITLE may be appended to *HOURGLASS keywords. If this
option is used then an addition line is read for each section in 80a format which can be used to
describe the section. At present LS-DYNA does make use of the title. Inclusion of titles gives
greater clarity to input decks.
HGID Hourglass ID. A unique number or label not exceeding 8 characters
must be specified. This ID is referenced by HGID in the *PART
command.
IHQ Hourglass control type. For solid elements six options are available.
For quadrilateral shell and membrane elements the hourglass control is
based on the formulation of Belytschko and Tsay, i.e., options 1-3 are
identical, and options 4-6 are identical:
EQ.0: default=1 regardless of IHQ in *control_hourglass,
EQ.1: standard LS-DYNA viscous form,
EQ.2: Flanagan-Belytschko viscous form,
EQ.3: Flanagan-Belytschko viscous form with exact volume
integration for solid elements,
EQ.5: Flanagan-Belytschko stiffness form with exact volume
integration for solid elements.
EQ.6: Belytschko-Bindeman [1993] assumed strain co-rotational
stiffness form for 2D and 3D solid elements only. This form is
available for explicit and IMPLICIT solution methods. In fact, type
6 or 7 is mandatory for the implicit options.
EQ.7: Linear total strain form of type 6 hourglass control. This
form is available for explicit and implicit solution method (See
remark 6 below).
EQ:8: Applicable to the type 16 fully integrated shell element.
IHQ=8 activates the full projection warping stiffness for accurate
solutions. A speed penalty of 25% is common for this option.
A discussion of the viscous and stiffness hourglass control for shell
elements follows at the end of this section.
QM Hourglass coefficient. Values of QM that exceed .15 may cause instabilities.
The recommended default applies to all options except for IHQ=6. The
stiffness forms, however, can stiffen the response especially if deformations
are large and therefore should be used with care. For the shell and
membrane elements QM is taken as the membrane hourglass coefficient,
the bending as QB, and warping as QW. These coefficients can be
specified independently, but generally, QM=QB=QW, is adequate. For
type 6 solid element hourglass control, see note 4 below.
IBQ Bulk viscosity type (See remark 3. below.):
EQ.1: standard LS-DYNA.
Q1 Quadratic bulk viscosity coefficient.
Q2 Linear bulk viscosity coefficient.
QB Hourglass coefficient for shell bending. The default: QB=QM. See remark 4 below.
VDC Viscous damping coefficient for types 6 and 7 hourglass control.
QW Hourglass coefficient for shell warping. The default: QB=QW
LS-DYNA Manual Examples Section

AIRBAG_SIMPLE_AIRBAG_MODEL
Additional Sections:
CONTACT_NODES_TO_SURFACE
RIGIDWALL_PLANAR
Example: Airbag Deploys into Cylinder
Filename: airbag.deploy.k
Description:
An airbag inflates below a rigid cylinder, causing the cylinder to fly into the air.
Model:
The volume pressure relationships is defined by the Simple Airbag Model for control
volumes. The bag inflates through the flow of mass into the bag.
Input:The control volume defines the thermodynamic relationship for the gas in terms of
parameters such as heat capacity, gas temperature, incoming mass, and outgoing mass
(*AIRBAG_SIMPLE_AIRBAG_MODEL). A rigidwall is used below the airbag to act as
ground (*RIGIDWALL_PLANAR). A ground is displayed using rigid shell elements, but is used
only for visualization purposes. The contact between the airbag and the cylinder is
automatically generated by part id (*CONTACT_NODES_TO_SURFACE).
Results:
The plots show the bag expanding. The ASCII file abstat contains information on the
computed pressure, volume, mass flow and internal energy of the control volume
(*DATABASE_ABSTAT).
BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION
*LOAD_SEGMENT
Example: Blow Molding
Filename: boundary_prescribed_motion.blow-mold.k
Description:
This problem includes two tools, a punch nose and a die tube. A blank tube is formed by
blow molding the nose through the tube.
Model:
The hollow tube blank is made with 600 shell elements AND has an outer radius of 12.06
mm, an initial thickness of 1.37 mm, and an initial length of 53.5 mm. The internal pressure
of the hollow tube blank is 40 N/mm2 applied using the *LOAD_SEGMENT keyword. The
tools are rigid shell elements. Only 1/4 of the system is modeled because of symmetry.
The motion of the punch nose and the end of the blank follow a linear motion with a total
displacement of 15 mm (*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION).
Reference:
Wei, Lixin
CONSTRAINED_GENERALIZED_WELD
*DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_PLANE
Example: Two Plates Connected with Butt Welds
Filename: constrained.butt-weld.k
Description:
Two plates are connected by four butt welds. The plates are pulled apart and the center two
welds fail.
Model:
Each plate is constructed with 12 shell elements. One end of one plate is fixed with SPC’s. One
end of the other plate has a prescribed motion condition defined. The other ends of the plates are
butt welded together with failure criteria. Cross sections are defined through each plate to
monitor the forces through the plates as they are pulled apart.
Results:
butt weld constraint failed between nodes 35 & 23
: Time = 1.26913E+00 : xl-force = 5.56053E+00
: yl-force = 2.28915E-03 : zl-force = -1.93680E-07
: xl-moment = -3.16675E-07 : yl-moment = 9.09511E-07
: plastic ep= 0.00000E+00
Stresses in weld:
: signn = 2.78026E-01 : tautn = 0.00000E+00
: signm = 9.09511E-08 : tautm = 0.00000E+00
: signs = 0.00000E+00 : tauts = 1.14458E-04
: tautw = -9.68398E-09
butt weld constraint failed between nodes 37 & 25

: Time = 1.26913E+00 : xl-force = 5.56054E+00
: yl-force = -2.29328E-03 : zl-force = -2.41027E-07
: xl-moment = 2.97763E-07 : yl-moment = 3.22515E-07
: plastic ep= 0.00000E+00
Stresses in weld:
: signn = 2.78027E-01 : tautn = 0.00000E+00
: signm = 3.22515E-08 : tautm = 0.00000E+00
: signs = 0.00000E+00 : tauts = -1.14664E-04
CONSTRAINED_JOINT_PLANAR
*LOAD_NODE_POINT
*LOAD_SEGMENT
*INITIAL_VELOCITY_NODE
*CONSTRAINED_EXTRA_NODES_SET
Example: Sliding Blocks with Planar Joint
Filename: constrained.joint_planar.k
Description:
This problem illustrates a planar joint connecting two rigid bodies.
Model:
The first block measuring 2 2 2 slides along a second block measuring 2 2 8. A
third flexible body controls the time step size. The first block has a ramped pressure of 100
psi applied to the top surface and ramped concentrated forces applied to a lower edge of 40
lbs. The initial velocity of the first block is 400 inches/second.
Input:
One joint definition consist of nodes 128, 126, 129 and 127
(*CONSTRAINED_JOINT_PLANAR). The nodes are extra nodes attached to the rigid
bodies and are coincident (*CONSTRAINED_EXTRA_NODES_SET,
*SET_NODE_LIST).
Results:
The plots show that the first block correctly slides across the second block.
CONSTRAINED_JOINT_REVOLUTE
*CONSTRAINED_JOINT_STIFFNESS
*CONTROL_TIMESTEP
Example: Hinged Shell with Stop Angle (Revolute Joint)
Filename: constrained.joint_revolute.k
Description:
Two rigid shell elements are joined together using a revolute joint. A stop angle is defined so that
the rotating plate can only rotate 30 degrees relative to the other plate.
Model:
A pair of concentrated loads are applied to the end nodes of a hinge-jointed shell system
using *LOAD_NODE_POINT. One of the rigid plates is fixed by using the capability
within the *MAT_RIGID keyword. The rotating plate has a stop angle of 30 degrees
relative to the fixed plate defined using the
*CONSTRAINED_JOINT_STIFFNESS_GENERLAIZED keyword.
Because all components in the model are rigid, the time step needs to be controlled by
limiting the maximum time step to 4.15E-06 s. (In deformable structures, the minimum
time step is usually the one of concern.)
Results:
The rotating plate at several states are shown imposed on each other. The maximum rotated
angle is closer to 38 degrees rather than the specified 30 degrees. This is because the joint
stiffness actual defines the angle at which the resistance force is to begin. The forces associated
with stopping the rotating plate can be determined by examining the jntforc ascii file.
CONSTRAINED_LINEAR
BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_NODE
DEFINE_CURVE
Example: Linearly Constrained Plate
Filename: constrained.linear.plate.k
Description:
The center node of a plate moves in the normal direction. Two other nodes that are
neighbors to the center node are constrained such that their displacement in the normal
direction is identical.
Model:
The plate is made of an elastic material measuring 40 40 2 mm3 and contains 64
Hughes-Liu shell elements. The center node displacement increases linearly. At the
termination time, 0.0005 seconds, the displacement is 15 mm. The degree of freedom in the z-
direction for the two nodes is identical.
Input:
A load curve defines the magnitude of the prescribed displacement of the center node
(*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_NODE, *DEFINE_CURVE). A linear
constraint card defines the coupling of the displacement in the z-direction between the two nodes
(*CONSTRAINED_LINEAR). Two equal coefficients with opposite signs control the
displacement.
CONSTRAINED_SHELL_TO_SOLID
*LOAD_SEGMENT
Example: Impulsively Loaded Cap with Shells and Solids
Filename: constrained.shell_solid.dome.k
Description:
A dome has an impulsive pressure load. The dome contains shell and brick element joined with
shell-brick interfaces.
Model:
Only 1/4 of the dome is modeled due to symmetry. The dome shells are Hughes-Liu shell
elements with three integration point through the thickness. Four shell elements have a
pressure load of 5,308 psi over 0.0017246 square inches. The termination time is 0.0004
seconds.
Input:
The model contains one shell-brick goup that has 7 shell nodes tied to 5 brick node
(*CONSTRAINED_SHELL_TO_SOLID). The model contains four pressure surfaces
(*LOAD_SEGMENT). Five nodes are written to the time history ASCII database file
nodout (*DATABASE_HISTORY_NODE, *DATABASE_NODOUT).
Results:
The plots show the response of the dome.
CONSTRAINED_SPOTWELD
*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_SET
*DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_PLANE
*DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_SET
Example: Spot Weld Secures Two Plates
Filename: constrained.spotweld.plates.k
Description:
Two overlapping plates are connected using three spotwelds. The plates are pulled apart
until the spot welds reach the defined failure condition.
Model:
The two plates measure 80 40 1 mm3 and are defined with S/R Hughes-Liu shell
elements to control hourglassing. The location of the spotwelds connecting the two plates is in
the center of the overlapping section. One end of the plate has fixed constraints and the other end
of the other plate has linearly increasing displacement.
Input:
The nodal point cards contain the boundary conditions at one end of the plate (*NODES).
*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_SET defines the nodal motion of the end of the other
plate. Massless beams simulate the connection between the plates at three locations
(*CONSTRAINED_SPOTWELD). The definitions include failure as a function of the axial and
shear force.
The ASCII file swforc contains the axial and shear forces on the spotweld
(*DATABASE_SWFORC). A cross section is defined through each of the plates using two
different techniques (*DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_PLANE,
*DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_SET). Forces and moments through the cross sections are
stored in the ASCII file secforc (*DATABASE_SECFORC).
CONTACT
*INITIAL_VELOCITY
Example: Shell Rebounds from Plate Using Five Contact Types
Filename: contact.plates.k
Description:
A shell element drops and rebounds on an elastic plate.
Model:
The plate measures 40 40 1 mm3 and contains 16 shell elements. The dropped shell
element has a side length of 10 mm, a thickness of 2 mm and drop height of 10 mm. All
shell elements are elastic with Belytschko-Tsay formulation. The dropped shell element has an
initial velocity of 100,000 mm/second vertically towards the plate. The calculations terminate at
0.0002 seconds.
Input:
All four nodes of the dropped shell element have an initial velocity specified by
*INITIAL_VELOCITY. Contact types 3, 5 and 10 use the dropped shell element as slave
side and the four shell elements in the center of the plate as master side. The example file
has type 3 contact activated, while the other contact types are commented out. To change
contact types, simply comment out type 3 and un-comment the desired contact.
Type 3 contact is a two way surface to surface algorithm. The segments on the slave side
are checked for penetration of the master segment then the opposite search takes place.
Type 4 is a single surface algorithm. The nodes of all segments are checked for penetration of all
segments. Type 5 is a node to surface one way algorithm. The program checks that no slave node
penetrates any master segment. Type 10 converts surface to surface definition into a node to
surface definition. Type 13 is a more robust version of the single surface algorithm.
CONTACT_ERODING_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE
*INITIAL_VELOCITY_GENERATION
Example: Projectile Penetrates Plate
Filename: contact.projectile.k
Description:
A projectile strikes a plate at a critical angle.
Model:
The hemispherical projectile has a length of 7.67 cm and a diameter of 0.767 cm. The plate
measures 23.01 cm 23 cm 0.64 cm. The projectile and the plate are elastic perfectly plastic
with failure strain. The initial velocity of the projectile is 0.129 cm/sec at an angle of 75
degrees. The calculation terminates at 110.0 sec.
Input:
The initial velocity (magnitude and direction) of the projectile is set using
*INITIAL_VELOCITY_GENERATION. Eroding contact between the projectile surface
and plate surface is defined so that the contact erodes as the element erodes
(*CONTACT_ERODING_SURFACE_TO_SURFACE). This allows the contact to work
correctly as layers of the parts erode during penetration.
Results:
The projectile fractures into a tip and trailing portion. The trailing portion punches a hole
through the plate while the tip deflects off the plate.
CONTACT_NODES_TO_SURFACE
*CONSTRAINED_TIED_NODES_FAILURE
Example: Rigid Sphere Impacts a Plate at High Speed
Filename: contact.n2s-sphere.k
Description:
A sphere impacts a plate at high speed causing failure of the plate. This model can be used to
show how different contacts can behave differently in a rather simple model. Instructions of this
are explained in the header of the input deck.
Model:
A rigid sphere is made out of solid elements and given an initial velocity of 89 mm/ms
towards a plate using the *DEFINE_BOX keyword. The plate is constructed out of shell
elements. The shells of the plates do NOT have their nodes merged at common locations.
Instead, tied nodes with failure constraints are used to connect the common nodes. This
allows the plate to rupture and rip along seam lines instead of having elements fail (and
being deleted) by using the more common failure criteria within the material definition.
Results:
The plate is definitely not made out of a bullet proof material.
CONTACT_TIED_NODES_TO_SURFACE
Example: Discrete Nodes Tied to a Surface

Filename: contact.tied_nodes.box.k
Description:
A shell element drops onto and then rebounds from, a hollow box that is tied to an elastic
plate.
Model:
The plate measures 40 40 1 mm3 and contains 16 Belytschko-Tsay shell elements. The
dropped shell element has a side length of 10 mm, a thickness of 2 mm and a drop height of 10
mm. The box contains 12 Belytschko-Tsay shell elements. All shell element materials are elastic.
The initial velocity of the shell elements is 100,000 mm/second. The calculation terminates at
0.002 seconds.
Input:
The nodes of the dropped shell are given an initial velocity (*INITIAL_VELOCITY). The nodes
on the bottom of the box, those facing the plate, are tied to the plate
(*CONTACT_TIED_NODES_TO_SURFACE). Automatic single surface contact is used

to define the contact between the dropped shell and the box.
CONTACT_ENTITY
*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_RIGID
Example: Rigid Sphere Impacts Plate
Filename: contact_entity.sphere.k
Description:
A rigid sphere drops onto an elastic plate. The sphere contains shell elements automatically
generated with a “Geometric Contact Entity” spherical surface.
Model:
The plate of elastic material measures 40 40 2 mm3 and contains 64 Belytschko-Tsay
shell elements. The sphere has a radius of 6.0 mm and the distance from the center of the
cube to the plate is 8.5 mm. The inertia properties of the sphere are defined by the
properties of the rigid brick element. A geometric contact entity defines the spherical
contact surface. The sphere moves toward the plate with a uniform motion. The
termination time is 0.0005 seconds.
Input:
The Geometric Contact Entity defines the outer master surface on the rigid sphere
(*CONTACT_ENTITY). The nodes on the plate are slave nodes (*SET_NODE_LIST) ,
and are in the “Geometric Entity”. A load curve definition defines the movement of the
sphere (*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_RIGID, *DEFINE_CURVE). The
displacement condition for rigid bodies is input by part number, not by listing the nodes
included in the definition.
CONTROL_CONTACT
*LOAD_SEGMENT
*MAT_POWER_LAW_PLASTICITY
*RIGIDWALL_PLANAR
Example: Hemispherical Punch
Filename: control_contact.hemi-draw.k
Description:
This problem includes three tools a punch, a pressure pad, a die and a workpiece. A
workpiece is deep drawn by the hemispherical punch while the pressure pad and die
prevents wrinkling. The load on the pressure pad is ramped, then the punch displaces in the y
direction.
Model:
The workpiece measures 80 mm in radius and 1 mm in thickness. The punch radius is 50.0 mm
and the die torus radius is 6.35 mm. The workpiece contains 528 Belytschko Tsay shell elements
with 5 integration points through the thickness. The tools are rigid members. Only 1/4 of the
system is modeled because of symmetry.
Input:
The number of integration points is 5 for the workpiece. (*SECTION_SHELL) This model
contains two options to consider shell thickness. The first option is the contact surfaces are
projected to the true surface of shell (*CONTROL_CONTACT). The second
option is membrane straining results in thickness changes (*CONTROL_CONTACT). The

motion of the punch follows a sine function represented by load curve number 2 (Section 22).
CONTROL_DAMPING
*DAMPING_GLOBAL
*DATABASE_CROSS_SECTION_SET
*LOAD_NODE_SET
Example: Cantilever Beam
Filename: control_damping.beam.k
Description:
A cantilever beam is subjected to a load at the free end. The beam then vibrates relative to the
equilibrium position without damping in case 1 and with damping in case 2.
Model:
The beam measures 1000 100 10 mm3 and is modeled by 10 Belytschko-Tsay shell
elements. A force of 100 N is applied in the z-direction at the free end. The calculation
ends at 0.5 seconds.
Input for the undamped system:
The force at the free end is applied as two point forces. The size of these forces is controlled by
load curve definition number 1 (*DEFINE_CURVE, *LOAD_NODE_SET). The ASCII-files
contain information for section force data, nodal information, and shell element information.
Data from ASCII-files can be processed in phase 3 of LS-TAURUS.
Input for the damped system:
The same input as in the undamped case except for a global damping constant
(*DAMPING_GLOBAL, *CONTROL_DAMPING).
CONTROL_ENERGY
Example: Bar Impact

Filename: control_energy.bar-impact.k
Description:
A copper bar strikes a wall.
Model:
A 1/4 symmetry bar measures 0.32 cm in radius and 3.24 cm in length and contains 972
hexahedron element. The bar starts at 0.0227 cm/sec and stops at 0 cm/sec. The
calculation illustrates the energy balance where E = KE + IE + HGE.
Input:
The hourglass energy is computed at a negligible cost. (*CONTROL_ENERGY) The
initial velocity for every node is set to -0.0227 except the nodes at z = 0.
Results:
The undeformed and deformed shape of the bar are shown. The total, kinetic, internal and
hourglass energies are also shown.
CONTROL_SHELL
Example: Hemispherical Load

Filename: control_shell.hemi-load.k
Description:
A spherical shell is subjected to outward point loads on the x-axis and inward point loads on the
z-axis.
Model:
The 1/8 symmetry model of a sphere measures 10 inches in radius with a thickness of 0.04
inches. The model contains 48 shell elements. A force of one pound is applied in the
positive x-direction to the node on the x-axis. A force of one pound is applied in the
negative z-direction to the node on the y-axis.
Input:
The element formulation is the Hughes-Liu shell with four integration points through the
thickness. Note: If B-T element formulation is used the solution would be incorrect. To fix it, the
Belytschko Tsay shell requires the Belytschko-Wang-Chiang warpage stiffness
modification (*CONTROL_SHELL). The concentrated loads are applied to two nodes
(*DEFINE_CURVE, *LOAD_NODE_POINT).
Results:
The oscillation of the node on the z-axis shows a regular oscillatory behavior. Since there is no
specified damping, oscillations would be expected.
CONTROL_SHELL
Example: Twisted Cantilever Beam

Filename: control_shell.beam-twist.k
Description:
A beam twisted 90 degrees about its length is constrained on one edge and has a point load
prescribed normal to the opposite end of the beam.
Model:
The beam measures 12.00 1.10 0.32 cubic inches. A concentrated load is applied to one node
on the end in the x-direction and the other node on the end in the z-direction.
Input:
This model uses the Hughes-Liu five through the thickness integration points
(*CONTROL_SHELL, *SECTION_SHELL). The element has the shell normal update
calculation performed at each nodal fiber every cycle (*CONTROL_SHELL). Note: This is
another example that will not work correctly with the B-T shell formulation (unless warping
stiffness is added).
Results:
The beam oscillates about a neutral amplitude.
CONTROL_TIMESTEP
Example: Billet Upset
Filename: control_timestep.billet-forge.k
Description:
A rod of steel is forged between two dies. The billet upset problem is a measure of friction under
forming conditions.
Model:
The billet material is isotropic elastic-plastic, and the model has 1• 8 symmetry. The billet
measures 2.25 inches in height and 1.26 inches in radius. The die compresses the billet 1.60
inches. The relationship between the shear friction and the normal pressure is bilinear.
Input:
The mass scaling time step size is set to 12 microseconds (*CONTROL_TIMESTEP). The billet
nodes contact the die surfaces (*CONTACT_NODES_TO_SURFACE). The Coulomb frictional
constant is 0.10 and the constant shear is 2,055 psi . A half sine wave defines the velocity of the
die (*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION).
Results:
The results show that effective plastic strains with and without timestep control are the
same. CPU savings is approximately 33% on the cray J90 using 1 cpu..
CONTROL_ADAPTIVE
*DAMPING_GLOBAL
*LOAD_RIGID_BODY
Example: Deep Drawing with Adaptivity
Filename: control_adaptive.cup-draw.k
Description:
This problem includes three tools a punch, a binder and a die and also includes a blank to be
formed. The blank is deep drawn by the punch while the binder and die hold the blank
edges and help prevent wrinkling. During the process, adaptivity is employed to refine the mesh
of the blank to improve accuracy.
Model:
Only 1/4 of the system is modeled because of symmetry. The binder pushes down on the
blank against the die using a *LOAD_RIGID command to model the boundary edge
condition. The punch is moved down onto the blank with
*BOUNDARY_PRESCRIBED_MOTION_RIGID command. Global damping and contact
damping are defined to prevent local nodal vibrations. The time step size is
controlled with mass scaling because inertial effects are insignificant in this problem. One way
surface to surface contact is defined between the major parts. This allows the drawing (i.e.,
contact) forces to be monitored using the rcforc ascii output file.
Results:
During the drawing operation, the mesh is refined considerably.
HYPERVIEW
HyperView is a complete post-processing and visualization environment for finite
element analysis (FEA), multi-body system simulation, video, and engineering data. HyperView
enables to visualize data interactively as well as capture and standardize your post-processing
activities using process automation features. HyperView also saves 3D animation results in
Altair's compact H3D format so you can visualize and share CAE results within a 3D web
environment using HyperView Player.
Hyperview improve productivity through:
·Enhanced 3D graphics performance

·Direct readers for many CAE solvers as well as the Altair H3D compressed binary
format
·The xy plotting tools of Altair HyperGraph
·A custom interface and specialized tools to fit your engineering environment
Gain new insights through:
·Synchronized results visualization for FEA and multibody animation, xy plotting and
video data
·Multiple CAE models overlaying in one window
·Visualized animation types such as adaptive meshes and multi-body dynamic models
with flex bodies
·Linked to HyperView Player for web communication and collaboration
Multiple Solver Support:

HyperView supports many different CAE solver formats for post-processing. Along with
the solver formats supported through direct readers, HyperView supports additional solver
formats via translators. These translators convert results into the Altair H3D compressed binary
format. In addition, HyperView provides the flexibility to extend its solver support through the
creation of user-defined results translators.
Solvers supported include:
· HM - res · PAMCRASH
· OptiStruct · ADAMS
· MotionSolve™ · MADYMO
· ABAQUS · DADS
· LS-DYNA · SIMPACK
· NASTRAN · Radioss
· ANSYS · MoldFlow
CAE Animation:
HyperView’s animation window provides a complete suite of interactive post-processing

features that improve results visualization. HyperView supports deformed, linear, modal and
transient animations. HyperView also supports animation for various types of CAE results
including adaptive meshes and multi-body dynamic models with flexbodies.
HyperView’s animation features include:
· Iso-surfaces
· Tensor plots
· Vector plots
· Dynamic measures applied directly to the model
· Interactive cut planes
· Tracking (part and coordinate systems)
Video Animation:
The video window in HyperView introduces the unique capability to read digital video files and
synchronize them to CAE animations and xy plot information for enhanced simulation post-
processing and correlation. The video window directly reads and writes most standard movie
image file formats including AVI, BMP, TIFF AND JPEG. You can perform pixel-to-pixel
measures directly on the video, overlay multiple video files, add header and footer labels, as well
as annotations. Video frames can also be displayed using a staggered time delay.
XY Plotting:
HyperView’s plotting window is a data analysis and plotting tool with interfaces to many file
formats. You can label and manipulate plots with point and click access to axis labels, legends,
plot headers and footers. You can also annotate plots with advanced notes using Templex, a
built-in text and numeric processor. Its math engine is capable of processing complex
mathematical expressions.
Report Generation:
The Export HTML Report option allows you to output an HTML report of the current session
loaded in HyperView. The report is based on the page layout and number of pages in the
session. You can specify which pages are to be written out as well as the format for each
window exported.
· Animation export - JPEG, AVI or H3D

· xy plots window export - JPEG or BMP
· Video window export - JPEG, BMP, or AVI
· Text window export - HTML text
The Graphical User Interface:
The HyperView interface provides you with a consistent look and feel whether you are
working with animations, plots, the text editor, or videos. The screen is divided into six areas.
MENUS:
Every window mode displays the following menus:
File Save, open, or append session script files, print, export curves, and exit the
program.
Edit Copy, paste, and overlay the contents of animation, plot, and text windows
and entire pages.
View Expand the current page to full screen and display or hide the Model
Browser.
Page Access page control options.
Study menu Launches HyperStudy.
Help Access the on-line help, display the Message Log window, and access
information about the current version of the program.
Window Modes:
The window mode is selected from the window mode option menu on the left-most end
of the tool bar, .
The tool buttons, view controls, and menu bar change according to the selected window mode.
Up to 16 windows can be arranged on a page, each window containing an animation, plot, text,
or video file.
The HyperView window mode option menu
Four window mode types are available in HyperView.
PAGES:
The main display area is called a page. Each page can contain from one to 16 windows.
Any window on a page can display a model, animation, a plot, text, or a video. You can create
any number of pages in a session. The pages are stored in a list, enabling you to display any
page at any time as well as add, cut, copy, and paste pages. Only one page is displayed at a time.
The current page number and the total number of pages in the session are displayed in the upper
right corner of the window.
TOOL BAR:
The tool bar provides quick access to the most commonly used features. The tool bar
contains:
1. The window mode option menu

2. Tool buttons
3. Page controls
4. Window controls
5. Animation controls
The window mode option menu is used to change window modes. The tool buttons change
depending on whether the active window is in animation, plot, text editor, or
video mode. If the window is in plot mode, the plot type module menu, , is
displayed on the tool bar. This allows you to work in the XY plot, bar chart, or complex plot
module. XY plot is the default plot type.
Tool buttons are used to open and save files, and provide access to window specific panels.
Page controls are used to create and manage pages.
Window controls allow you reduce or expand the window size or swap windows.
The animation controls allow you to switch between transient animation mode or linear/modal
animation mode. They also allow you to access the animation controls panel and start/stop
animation.
The tool bar displaying the animation tools.
PANELS:
Multiple features are displayed on panels located at the bottom of the screen. When a
tool button or page control is clicked, the corresponding panel is displayed.
Panels are organized with tabs, collectors, text boxes, menus, and lists.
VIEW CONTROLS:
The view controls are located in the lower right corner. The view controls are used to
visually manipulate model graphics and plots. Click on the arrows to rotate graphics or move
plots. Graphics and plots can be magnified and user-defined views can be stored in memory and
recalled any time. There are three sets of view controls in HyperView: one for viewing graphics,
one for viewing plots, and one for viewing videos.
The graphics view controls are displayed when the current window is in animation mode. The
view controls enable you to manipulate and view graphics from any angle.
FILE MANAGEMENT( HYPERVIEW/HYPERGRAPH):
The following file types can be read, depending upon the program you are using. Session
script files are opened using the File menu. Animation, plot, text, and video files are opened
using the file browser button on the toolbar, . The accepted file types include:
Session Script Files A script is a text file that contains a structured list of
MotionScript statements. The statements include instructions
for page layout and window content, such as graphic and plot
information. A session script file is generated whenever you
save a work session. Session script files can also be created
outside of the program using any text editor or generated
from other applications.
Session script files are opened using the File menu.
Session script files have the following default
extension:mvw
Animation Files Animation files is used to view and animate simulation
results.Animation files can only be opened in the Animation
window, , using the file browser button on the
toolbar.Supported animation files include:
 ADAMS .gra and .res
 MADYMO KIN3 & .kn3
 LS-DYNA d3plot and LLNL-DYNA d3plot
 NIKE 3D n3plot
 MARC t16
 HYPER3D
 Radioss A
 PAM-CRASH DSY
 MotionView .mdl
 DADS .def and .bin
 Altair .h3d & .flx
 GFILE
Plot Files Plot files are any of the data file formats recognized by the
program and any data file format for which a custom import
template has been written. Plot files can only be opened in the Plot
window, , using the file folder button in the Build Plots and
define curves panels.
Supported plot files include:
Analysis
 ADAMS REQ and matrix files
 ABAQUS mass from DAT files
 DADS graph files
 GENESIS history files
 Altair HyperFrom DAT files
 Altair HyperMesh RES files
 Altair MotionSolve files
 Altair MotionView shock output files
 Altair OptiStruct files
 Log files
 Mass, volume, and frequencies from out files
 MADYMO time history files
 NASTRAN:
· Mass and frequencies from f06 files
· Complex results from SOL 108 and 111 punch files
 PAMCRACH time history files
 RADIOSS T01 time history files
Text Files Text files are any files containing only ASCII text.Text files can only be
opened in the Text Editor window, ,using the file browser button on
the toolbar.While text files can have any extension, they must be ASCII
text files.
Video Files Video files are used to view and animate video files. They can only be
opened in the Video window, , using the file browser on the
toolbar.Examples of video files supported include:
Movie Files
· Altair Movie File (*.amf), created using the AMF Builder. This is
a modified AVI file with timing information embedded in the file.
· Windows AVI File (*.avi) - PC only. One frame equals one
second by default.
Image Files
· JPEG File (*.jpg)
· Tagged Image File Format (*.tif, *.tiff)
· Truevision Targa File (*.tga)
· Windows Bitmap File (*.bmp)
· PCX File (*.pcx)
File Browser:
When you open or save a file, you use the standard Windows file browser. The file
browser enables you to navigate through the directories on your network to locate files.
Look in The look in drop-down menu lists the open directory, its
sub-directories, and its parent directory. You can select a new
directory by scrolling through the list of directories and double
clicking the desired directory. The open space below displays the
folders within the selected directory and/or the filenames found
within that directory based on the search criteria used.
File name The File name field allows you to enter the name of a file that you
want to locate. It also displays the file that you select from the files
displayed in the area above.
Files of type The Files of type field allows you to select the type of file you want
to locate.
Open Click Open to load the file shown in the File name field.
Cancel Click Cancel to close the file browser.
Displays the folder at the previous level.

Creates a new folder within the current directory.
Lists only the file name.
Saving a Session File:

Work sessions can be saved as session script files so you can continue working at a later
time. There are four methods for saving work sessions.
· Save the session with the current session script filename.

· Save the session with a new session script filename.
· Save the session as a report definition.
· Save all curve data in ASCII format inside the session script file.
Sessions are saved with Save Session File or Save Session File As in the File menu.
Save Session File:

To save the current session with the same name, select Save Session File from the File menu.
The session settings are saved using the current session’s filename.
Save Session File As:

Save Session File As... enables you to specify a new name for the session script file before
saving it. When Save Session File As... is selected, the Save Session File... file browser is
displayed.
A session script file is saved as a Templex template by default. The Templex template consists
of a session script statement and a Templex command. These files have the extension .mvw.
When a session script is saved as a Templex template, the filenames referenced in the session
script are assigned to Templex variables located at the top of the session script file. This enables
you to change the files referenced in the session script by assigning new filenames to the
variables. When the session script template is opened, the filenames currently assigned to the
Templex variables are used.
Animation files are assigned to the variable GRAPHIC_FILE_n, plot files are assigned to the
variable PLOT_FILE_n, and text files are assigned to the variable TEXT_FILE_n, where n
increments from 1 for each variable of the same type.
Save All Curve Data to Script File saves all the curve data for the current session into the
session script file, so that the session script file no longer refers to the original data files. This
option is also available if you save the current session as a report definition template.
Loading a Session:
Once a session has been saved, it can be loaded at any time. There are three ways to restore a
saved session.
Open Load a session with the file browser.

Reopen Provides quick access to the last session that was opened.
Append Appends a previously saved session script file to the current session.
Appending a Session Script File:

Previously saved session script files can be appended to the current session. This allows you to
combine pages from multiple sessions into one session script file.
Recent File:
The most recent files you've worked on are listed below the Print Setup option on the File menu.
Export Curves:
Plot data can be exported in several different formats that can be read by other software
applications. Select Export Curves from the File menu to display the Export Curves dialog.
The Export Curves dialog.
In the File field, enter a name for the exported file. The file is stored in the selected directory
using the file browser, , or the directory from which the program was started. The default
filename is export.ext, where ext indicates the file type specified in the export template.
Export Formats:
The format for exported data is selected from the Format drop-down menu.
Export formats for the following ASCII file types are included:
Excel .csv CSV, comma separated values, format. CSV is compatible

with most spreadsheet applications. Commas delimit the data.
Columns .col One column for X data and another for Y data. A blank line
separates each curve in the plot. Tabs delimit the data.
XY DATA .dat One column for X data and another for Y data. The data set for
each curve in the plot begins with XYDATA and ends with
ENDATA. The XY units and the axis labels are included at the
top of each data set. Tabs delimit the data. HyperMesh uses this
format.
X GRAPH .xgr One column for X data and another for Y data. The XY units and
the axis labels are included as comments at the top of each data
set. Tabs delimit the data.
Summary .sum The summary file contains the plot title and a table listing the
curves in the plot, the X and Y data labels, and the min and max
values of each curve.
ADAMS Spline .adm The X values for each curve are listed in comma delimited
columns followed by the Y values in comma delimited
columns. The first data set in the file is labeled SPLINE/0.
The label for each successive data set is incremented by one.
Altair Binary .abf All curves in the window are written to an Altair
Binary format file.
DAC .dac Exports curve data to DAC files, one file per curve. If more
than one curve is requested, the name of the output file is
modified by adding the unique request name to the filename.
Range:
You can export all of the pages into the same file, just the current page, or a range of pages.
All Export every curve on every page in the page list to the specified file.
Current Plot Export just the currently displayed plot to the specified file.
Current Page Export just the currently displayed page to the specified file.
Pages Export a specific group of pages from the page list. Enter the number
of the first page in the range in the From text box. Enter the number of
the last page in the range in the To text box.
Note: Only curves that are turned on are exported. Any curves that are currently turned
off within a plot are not exported.
Export H3D Models:

The Export H3D Models option allows you to save the current model as an H3D file that
can be used in the animation window and HyperView Player. Select Export H3D Models from
the File menu to display the dialog.
Export HTML Report:

Export HTML Report allows you to export the current session to an HTML report. The
session window can be saved as a JPEG, AVI, or H3D file. From the File menu, select Export
HTML Report to display the dialog.
Capture Screen to File:

Capture Screen to File allows you to save the current window as a bitmap or JPEG file.
From the File menu, select Capture Screen to File to display the dialog. You can open the saved
window image using an image editor or another application that supports bitmap and JPEG files.
If you save the window image as a JPEG file, move the slider to select the image quality.
70 is the recommended value. Choosing a lower number creates a smaller file with reduced
image quality, while choosing a higher number creates a larger file and improves the quality of
the image.
Capture Animation to File(s):
Capture Animation to File(s) allows you to save the image in the current window,
including any animation, as an AVI, bitmap, or JPEG file. Saving the image as an AVI file
allows you to play the animated file as a video on your computer.
You can control the quality of images saved to an AVI animation file by changing the
number of colors used and by changing the graphic size. You can select Full Color, Reduced
Color, Greyscale, or Windows compressor and an image size of 33%, 50%, or 100%.
Organizing Windows and Pages:

The main display area is called a page. You can create any number of pages in a session.
The pages are stored in a list, enabling you to display any page at any time as well as add, cut,
copy, and paste pages. Only one page is displayed at a time.
Each page can contain from one to 16 windows. Any window on a page can display a model, a
graphic, a plot, text, or a video.
Page Control Tools
Page List :
The program keeps track of the pages you create. As each
page is created, a name is assigned to the page and stored
in a list. The page list provides direct access to any page
in the current work session. Pages can be added,
removed, renamed, copied, and pasted using the page list
controls.
Click the Page List button to display the list.
The list contains the names of each page in the session.

There is no limit to the number of pages that can be stored
in the page list.
The Page List dialog.

The Name checkbox enables you to display page names at
the top of each page. If the Name toggle is turned on, the
selected page name is displayed at the top of the page. If
the Name toggle is turned off, the selected page name is
not displayed at the top of the page. The Name toggle is
turned off by default.
Click Close to exit the Page List window.
Page Layout :
Each page can have a different layout depending on your needs. A typical layout might
consist of a large window on the left displaying an animation with two smaller windows on the
right tracking relevant data points on corresponding plots. There are 20 possible page
arrangements.
The Page Layout dialog
Expand Window :
On pages that contain more than one window, individual windows can be expanded to fill
the entire page.
Swap :
Swap exchanges the active window's position with another window on the same page.
For example, you could swap the upper left window with the lower right window in a six
window layout.
Templex Functions f( ):
The Templex Functions panel allows you to create and edit Templex functions. When a
function is changed, the revised version is used in each instance that the function is used.
Reports :
A report is used to automate the generation and presentation of standard animations,
plots, and tables. The content and layout of a report is defined by a report definition. A report
definition specifies how to post-process result information for a particular test or analysis data
file. Report definitions typically consist of a series of pages containing animation, plot and text
editor windows. The Reports panel allows you to add these predefined page sets to the current
session.
Animating Pages:
Pages containing animations, plots, and videso can be animated. Animation controls
allow you control the speed, direction, and the start and end points of the animation. Plots
containing explicit time vectors display a small white bubble on the plot that moves from point to
point during animation. Animations and plots on a page are synchronized in time.
The program animation functions allow you to view your model in motion. The three types of
animation include transient, linear, and modal.
Transient Transient animation displays the model in its time step positions as
calculated by the analysis code. Transient animation is used to
animate the transient response of a structure.
Linear Linear animation creates and displays an animation sequence that
starts with the original position of the model and ends with the fully
deformed position of the structure. An appropriate number of frames
are linearly interpolated between the first and last positions. Linear
animation is usually selected when results are from a static analysis.
Modal Modal animation creates and displays an animation sequence that
starts and ends with the original position of the structure. The
deforming frames are calculated based on a sinusoidal function.
Modal animation is most useful for displaying mode shapes.
Animate Start/Stop :
The traffic light starts and stops the animation for the entire page. Click on the traffic
light to animate all of the appropriate windows on the page. The traffic light is green when
windows are animating and red when animation is stopped. Animation runs until stopped.
5.2. HYPERGRAPH
HyperGraph is a data analysis and plotting tool with interfaces to many popular file
formats. Its math engine is capable of processing complex mathematical expressions.
HyperGraph combines these features with high-quality presentation output and customization
capabilities to create a complete data analysis system.
HyperGraph supplies an intuitive plotting and data analysis package. HyperGraph’s

interface and suite of automation tools enables you to view and analyze data more efficiently,
which:
· Minimizes the time needed to generate plots - the automatic plot builder generates a
family of fully labeled plots from data file(s) using file header and channel information.
· Eliminates repetitive tasks - plot macros capture and automate common math
expressions.
· Eliminates repetitive plot generation - report templates can capture and automate the
building of entire pages of data plots.
· Provides a fully customizable interface - customize the interface and the tools to fit any
engineering environment .
· Enables you to add math functions to Altair's math library
· Provides tools to automate data analysis and report generation - process automation tools
enable you to overlay sequential test and simulation results for visualization and analysis
· Exports HTML session: enables you to write out HTML report directly to HTML format
Supported Data Formats

· Altair HyperMesh · Ride data files
· RES · RPC-3
· Altair OptiStruct · Excel (csv)
· LS-DYNA time history · Multicolumn ASCII
· ADAMS · xy DATA files
· MADYMO · Radioss
· PAM-CRASH · Nastran pch complex results (sol 108 & 111)
Plot Builder and Plot Details

HyperGraph’s automatic plot builder generates a series of fully annotated xy plots, bar
charts and complex plots directly from a data file while providing format options. This enables
you to specify how the plotted data is arranged on the pages. An intuitive interface provides
direct access for modifying all areas of a plot including axes, header, footer, legend and curve
properties. HyperGraph supports Linear, Log10, Log20 and Decibel axis scaling, a variety of
line styles, symbols and colors, as well as full user-control of text size, color and style.
Analyzing the Data:
Create new math curves from existing curves by writing mathematical expressions or
selecting from over 150 built-in mathematical functions and operators. HyperGraph maintains
full association between parent and child curves. A math engine performs complex
mathematical operations including:
· Signal processing
· Curve fitting
· Filtering
· Eigensystem analysis
· Integration and differentiation
· Statistical analysis
· User-defined math functions
· Custom expressions
HyperGraph provides interactive visual features for inspecting data. You can retrieve
individual point data such as x and y location, slope and more. Plot statistics, such as minimum,
maximum, mean and standard deviation can be calculated over a specified range on a curve from
the default Statistics template. Create a custom statistics template to highlight user/project
statistics. Annotate plots with notes, which can contain an unlimited amount of text, math and
string functions, operators and Templex statements.
Process Automation:
HyperGraph captures the entire data analysis process by automating complex and
repetitive tasks. With advanced features such as reports, plot macros, custom wizards, custom
pull-down menus and Tcl/Tk macros, you can improve your productivity by customizing
HyperGraph to fit your analysis environment. These customization abilities provide you with the
tools for automating the data analysis process through interactive dialogs for collecting and
processing data.
Report Generation:
The Export HTML Report option allows HyperGraph to output an HTML report of the
current session. The report is based on the page layout and number of pages in the session. You
can specify which pages are to be written out as well as which format for each window (JPEG
and BMP for plots and JPEG, BMP and AVI for video).
HyperGraph Environment:
The HyperGraph interface provides you with a consistent look and feel whether you are
working with plots, the text editor, or videos. The screen is divided into six areas.
Window Modes:
The window mode is selected from the window mode option menu on the left-most end
of the toolbar, , The tool buttons, view controls, and menu bar change according to the
selected window mode. Up to 16 windows can be arranged on a page, each window containing a
plot, text, or video file.
The HyperGraph window mode option menu
Three types of window modes are available when you are using HyperGraph:
Plot Select the Plot icon to make the current window a plot window.
The toolbar displays plot tool buttons.
Plot files can only be opened using the file browser button, ,
in the Build Plots and Define Curves panels.
Text Editor Select the Text Editor icon to make the current window a text
editor window. The toolbar displays text edit tool buttons.
Text files are opened using the file browser button, , on the
toolbar.
Video Select the Video icon to make the current window a video
window. The toolbar displays video tool buttons.
Video files are opened using the file browser button, , on the
toolbar.
Pages:
The main display area is called a page. Each page can contain from one to 16 windows.
Any window on a page can display a model, animation, a plot, text, or a video. You can create
any number of pages in a session. The pages are stored in a list, enabling you to display any
page at any time as well as add, cut, copy, and paste pages. Only one page is displayed at a time.
The current page number and the total number of pages in the session are displayed in the upper
right corner of the window.
Tool Bar:
The tool bar provides quick access to the most commonly used features. The tool bar
contains:
1. The window mode option menu
2. Tool buttons
3. Page controls
4. Window controls
5. Animation controls
The window mode option menu is used to change window modes. The tool buttons
change depending on whether the active window is in plot, text editor, or video mode. If the
window is in plot mode, the plot type module menu, , is displayed on the
tool bar. This allows you to work in the XY plot, bar chart, or complex plot module. XY plot is
the default plot type.
Tool buttons are used to open and save files, and provide access to window specific panels.
Page controls are used to create and manage pages.
Window controls allow you reduce or expand the window size or swap windows.
The animation controls allow you to access the animation controls panel and start/stop
animation.
Window mode Option Menu Animation

ModeMenu
Tool Bar Buttons
Plot Module Menu Page Control
The tool bar displaying the plot tools.
Panels:
Multiple features are displayed on panels located at the bottom of the screen. When a
tool button or page control is clicked, the corresponding panel is displayed.
Panels are organized with tabs, collectors, text boxes, menus, and lists.
The Define Curves panel in HyperGraph.
View Controls:
The view controls are located in the lower right corner. The view controls are used to
visually manipulate plots and videos Click on the arrows to move plots or videos. Plots and
videos can be magnified and user-defined views can be stored in memory and recalled any time.
There are two sets of view controls in HyperGraph: one for viewing plots and one for viewing
videos.
Viewing Plots:
The plot view controls are displayed when the active window is in plot mode. The view
controls enable you to translate curves within the window as well as zoom in on data.
The plot view controls.
Plot Translation Arrows:
The translation arrows move the plot within the active window. Each time an arrow is pushed,
the plot moves one tic mark in the direction indicated.
& move the plot diagonally upward to the left and right.
& move the plot toward the top and bottom of the screen.
& move the plot toward the left and the right.
& move the plot diagonally downward to the left and right.
Zoom In / Zoom Out:

magnifies the plot in the window.
reduces the size of the plot in the window.
Fit scales the plot so that it exactly fits the active window.
Fit X scales the currently displayed range of X values to exactly fit the active window.
Fit Y scales the currently displayed range of Y values to exactly fit the active window.
Flip XY permutes the data, exchanging the X-axes and Y-axes.
M1, M2 and R1, R2

Two user-defined views can be stored and recalled any time. Each window can have two stored
views.
Mouse Menus:
There are two mouse menus that can be used to manipulate views for plots and videos.
· Plot window mouse menu

· Video window mouse menu
Plot Window Mouse Menu:
Three additional viewing controls can be assigned to MB2 or the left-mouse button in a
plot window. The view control assigned to MB2/left mouse button is selected from a pop-up
menu that is activated by clicking MB3. Any one of the three controls can be assigned to MB2.
The default setting is Circle Zoom. If you are using a two-button mouse, right-click in the plot
window to activate the pop-up menu.
Circle Zoom Magnifies a selected section of your plot and is the default setting
for MB2.
Pick Center Repositions the plot in relation to the center of the window. When
Pick Center is assigned to MB2, a small white square appears in
the center of the window.
Translate Repositions a plot by dragging the mouse.
Apply Plot Style Displays the Style Sheets dialog. From this dialog, you can select
and apply attributes of the current plot to either every plot on
every page or to every plot on the current page. This option is
also accessible from the Tools menu.
Context Menu:
You can customize the plot mouse menu by adding context menu items. These menu items act
as a shortcut to options that are also accessible from the menu bar. The menu items are also
linked to a particular Tcl/Tk script.
Convert Units:
Besides the viewing controls, you can also access the Convert Units option from the plot
mouse menu. Right-click on any plot axes to display the menu option. When you select Convert
Units, the Convert Axis Units dialog is displayed. You can use this dialog to convert the current
axis unit of measure to another unit of measure. The application automatically selects the current
axis unit of measure on the Convert Axis Units dialog. From one of the drop-down menus,
select the new axis unit of measure to which you want to convert the current axis unit of
measure. If the application cannot detect the current axis unit of measure, it automatically
defaults to Time.
Video Window Mouse Menu:
Ten additional viewing controls can be assigned to MB2 in a video window. The view
control assigned to MB2 is selected from a pop-up menu that is activated by clicking MB3. Any
one of the ten controls can be assigned to MB2. The default settings are Circle Zoom and Use
normal area.
Circle Zoom Magnifies a selected section of your video image and is the default
setting for MB2.
Unzoom Reduces a selected section of your video image.
Translate Repositions a video image by dragging the mouse. If part of the
image is moved out of the viewing area, the image is clipped.
Pick Center Repositions the video image such that the selected point is now
centered in the viewing area. When Pick Center is assigned to
MB2, a small white square appears in the center of the window. If
part of the image is moved out of the viewing area, the image is
clipped.
Recenter Repositions the video image such that the center point of the image
is centered in the viewing area. If part of the image is moved out of
the viewing area, the image is clipped.
Set Markers Adds a crosshair to the video image and all video images on the
page, centered at the selected point and extended to the bounds of
the viewing area.
Clear Markers Removes markers from each image on each video window.
Use maximum area Scales the video image to use the maximum area of the window in
which it is contained.
Use normal area Scales the video image to use the normal area of the window in
which it is contained.
Edges Renders an "edges only" image of the file.
Menus:
The menu bar allows you to perform a wide variety of operations using drop-down
menus. Some operations such as appending, exporting, and printing files are accomplished only
from the menu bar. Other operations can be performed using either the menu bar or the
corresponding tool bar button. Each window mode has two types of menus, global menus and
window specific menus.
Global Menus:
Every window mode displays the following menus:
File Save, open, or append session script files, print, export curves, and exit
the program.
Edit Copy, paste, and overlay the contents of animation, plot, and text windows
and entire pages.
View Expand the current page to full screen and display or hide the Session
Browser.
Page Access page control options.
For HyperGraph, the window specific menus include:
 Plot
 Text Editor
 Video

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1.

Mathematically, the structure to be analyzed is subdivided into a mesh of finite sized

Finite Element Analysis:

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a computer-based numerical technique for calculating

How is Finite Element Analysis Useful?

Planning the analysis:

The preprocessor stage in general FE packages involves the following:

FEA is an implementation of FEM to solve a certain type of problem. For example if we

Alternatively, acceptable input could also be of the form:

To provide a better understanding behind the keyword philosophy

STRUCTURED INPUT TYPE ID KEYWORD NAME

STRUCTURED INPUT TYPE ID KEYWORD NAME

Defines damping either globally or by part identifier.

respectively. Quadrature rules in the *SECTION_SHELL and *SECTION_BEAM cards need to

Define nodal point identifiers and their coordinates.

In this section a title for the analysis is defined.

SUMMARY OF COMMONLY USED OPTIONS

Table I.1. Keywords for the most commonly used options.

Some of the material models presently implemented are:

The three-dimensional contact-impact algorithm was originally an extension of the

In order to avoid undesirable or confusing results, each LS-DYNA run should be

By including KEYWORD anywhere on the execute line or instead if *KEYWORD is

LS-DYNA is designed to operate with a variety of commercial pre-processing packages.

Capabilities specialized to automotive applications:

LS-DYNA has historically referenced materials by type identifiers. Below these

TYPE 1: *MAT_ELASTIC_(OPTION} [0,1H,1B,1I,1T,2,3,5]

TYPE 34: *MAT_FABRIC [4]

TYPE 105: *MAT_DAMAGE_2 [0,2]

TYPE 131: *MAT_ISOTROPIC_SMEARED_CRACK

TYPE 66: *MAT_LINEAR_ELASTIC_DISCRETE_BEAM [1D]

For incompressible CFD analysis, or for coupled incompressible fluid-structure

TYPE 150: *MAT_CFD_OPTION

The fluid option is valid for solid elements only.

Define the following card for all options:

such that the keyword cards appear:

Card Format of Cards 1 and 2 for the ORTHO option.

Card Format of Cards 1, 2, and 3 for the ANISO option.

MID Material identification. A unique number or label not exceeding 8

Define for both options:

AOPT Material axes option, see Figure 23.2.2.

EQ. 1.0: locally orthotropic with material axes determined by a

EQ. 2.0: globally orthotropic with material axes determined by

EQ. 3.0: locally orthotropic material axes determined by rotating

EQ. 4.0: locally orthotropic in cylindrical coordinate system with

G Shear modulus for frequency independent damping. Frequency

A1 A2 A3 Define components of vector a for AOPT = 2.

MACF Material axes change flag for brick elements:

V1 V2 V3 Define components of vector v for AOPT = 3 and 4.

D1 D2 D3 Define components of vector d for AOPT = 2:

D1 D2 D3 Define components of vector d for AOPT = 2:

BETA Material angle in degrees for AOPT = 3, may be overridden on the

where is a rotation for the element, and

MID Material identification. A unique number or label not exceeding 8

K Bulk modulus for unloading used for VCR=0.0.

A0 Yield function constant for plastic yield function below.

A1 Yield function constant for plastic yield function below.

A2 Yield function constant for plastic yield function below.

PC Pressure cutoff for tensile fracture (< 0).

VCR Volumetric crushing option:

EPS1,..... Volumetric strain values (natural logarithmic values), see comments

P1, P2,..PN Pressures corresponding to volumetric strain values.

MID Material identification. A unique number or label not exceeding 8

BULK Elastic bulk modulus.

respectively. Quadrature rules in the SECTION_SHELL and SECTION_BEAM cards need to