ANSYS is a complex software to teach/ learn, as it involves lot of FEA/ Structural / Thermal Engineering/ Mathematics subject to a higher levels and so, Engineers with specialization in Structural, Thermal, CAD CAM CAE, Engineering designs can understand easily the techniques and methods involved in modeling, meshing, loads, constraints, DOF’s, Solution methods, getting results, reviewing results, validating results etc. Moreover the beauty of FEA lies in idealizing the real-time model as an appropriate mathematical model. One can get a reasonable grip on this subject, with specialized masters degrees….and ofcourse only if you do it from IIT’s, NIT’s and a few Group-1 Colleges/ Universities.

But, we see many B.E Mechanical, Civil Engineers, excelling in the field of CAE.

You could also do this if you have lots of determination to excel in this field, and study FEA books and Engineering books as… Theory of Plates & Shells, Theory of Elasticity, Theory of Dynamics of Structures, Thermal Stresses and Engineering, Design Optimization techniques, Modeling of Mechanical and Structural Systems etc.

With this course, we are giving a sincere try that gives you a gentle push to reach your goal of becoming a CAE Engineer. So with this push, we hope that you get the required acceleration by self-study, thoughts and applications in due course of time.

The course targets to make an Engineer, know the Basics of various analyses available in ANSYS, Modeling and Meshing techniques etc. This course makes you work on around 30 modeling examples, 15 meshing examples, 30 plus structural problems, 15 plus thermal problems, 2 design optimization problems and a project work. The duration would be usually 3 hours a day for 6 weeks (36 days) as…

Modeling: 9 days, Meshing: 3 days, Structural Analysis: 12 days, Thermal Analysis: 6 days, Design Optimization/ Special problems: 3 days, Project: 3 days making the total session to 36 working days, making 108 hours of total practice, other than the theory sessions which would be around 18 sessions of 90 minutes each.

Modeling

FEA and ANSYS

§ What is FEA?

§ About ANSYS

§ ANSYS Basics

Starting ANSYS

§ ANSYS Workbench Environment

§ The GUI

§ Graphics and Picking

§ The Database and Files

§ Saving Files

§ Exiting ANSYS

§ File Types

General Analysis Procedure

§ Overview

§ Preliminary Decisions

§ Preprocessing

§ Solution

§ Post processing

Introduction to ANSYS Modeling

§ Direct Generation vs. Solid Modeling

§ Direct Generation

§ Creating nodes and elements

§ Filling between nodes

§ Setting Element Attributes

Solid Modeling

Bottom up

§ Using key points

§ Using lines, splines & arcs

§ Using areas and volumes (arbitrary)

Top Down

From Primitives

§ Creating rectangle, circle, polygon, block, cylinder, prism, sphere, cone and torus.

§ Concepts of hard points, line fillets and area fillets.

Modeling with Boolean operations

§ Intersect

§ Add

§ Subtract

§ Overlap

§ Glue

§ Divide

Introduction to Coordinate Systems

Types of coordinate Systems

§ Global & Local

§ Active coordinate system

Introduction to Working Planes

§ Creating a new working plane

§ Moving and rotating the working plane

Modify / Transformation commands

§ Copy

§ Reflect

§ Move/ Modify

§ Scale

Model Creation by Extrusion

§ Sweeping key points along a trajectory to create lines

§ Revolving key points about an axis to create arcs or full circles, normal to the axis

§ Sweeping lines or splines along a trajectory to get areas

§ Revolving lines, splines or arcs about an axis to create cylindrical areas.

§ Giving depth to an area to create a volume, normal to the area

§ Creating a volume with tapered faces

§ Sweeping an area along a trajectory to create a volume

§ Revolving an area about an axis to create a cylindrical volume

§ Extending Lines

§ Modifying an existing line by extending that line to a desired length

§ Creating a new line on the basis of an existing line, where the existing line will not be modified.

Meshing

Introduction to elements

§ One Dimensional Elements

§ Two Dimensional Elements

§ Two and Half Dimensional Elements

§ Three Dimensional Elements

§ Quadrilateral Elements

§ Triangular Elements

§ Brick Elements

§ Tetrahedral Elements

§ Shell Elements

Introduction to Meshing

Mapped and free meshing

How to control mesh size?

How to use Mesh Tool?

Concatenation and its significance

Clearing mesh and re-meshing

Some useful meshing techniques

Numbering Controls

§ Merging Coincident Points

§ Compressing Item Numbers

§ Setting Start Number & viewing Start Number Status

§ Adding Number Offset

What is coupling and how to create coupled sets of nodes?

Structural analysis

Structural analysis is probably the most common application of the finite element method. The term structural (or structure) implies not only civil engineering structures such as bridges and buildings, but also naval, aeronautical, and mechanical structures such as ship hulls, aircraft bodies, and machine housings, as well as mechanical components such as pistons, machine parts, and tools.

Static Analysis--Used to determine displacements, stresses, etc. under static loading conditions. Both linear and nonlinear static analyses. Nonlinearities can include plasticity, stress stiffening, large deflection, large strain, hyperelasticity, contact surfaces, and creep.

Exercises

Statically Indeterminate Reaction Force Analysis
Beam Stresses and Deflections
Deflection of a Hinged Support
Combined Bending and Torsion
Thermally Loaded Support Structure
Cylindrical Shell Under Pressure
Bending of a Circular Plate with a Center Hole
Pinched Cylinder
Transverse Shear Stresses in a Cantilever Beam

Modal Analysis

We use modal analysis to determine the vibration characteristics (natural frequencies and mode shapes) of a structure or a machine component while it is being designed. It also can be a starting point for another, more detailed, dynamic analysis, such as a transient dynamic analysis, a harmonic response analysis, or a spectrum analysis.

Exercises

Natural Frequency of a Spring-Mass System
Natural Frequency of a Motor-Generator
Fundamental Frequency of a Simply Supported Beam
Vibration of a String Under Tension
Automobile Suspension System Vibration
Torsional Frequencies of a Drill Pipe
Vibration of a Flat Plate

Harmonic response analysis is a technique used to determine the steady-state response of a linear structure to loads that vary sinusoidally (harmonically) with time. The idea is to calculate the structure's response at several frequencies and obtain a graph of some response quantity (usually displacements) versus frequency. "Peak" responses are then identified on the graph and stresses reviewed at those peak frequencies.

This analysis technique calculates only the steady-state, forced vibrations of a structure. The transient vibrations, which occur at the beginning of the excitation, are not accounted for in a harmonic response analysis.

Exercises

Harmonic Response of a Dynamic System
Harmonic Response of a Two-Mass-Spring System
Harmonic Response of a Guitar String
Harmonic Response of a Spring-mass System

Spectrum analysis is the one in which the results of a modal analysis are used with a known spectrum to calculate displacements and stresses in the model. It is mainly used in place of a time-history analysis to determine the response of structures to random or time-dependent loading conditions such as earthquakes, wind loads, ocean wave loads, jet engine thrust, rocket motor vibrations, and so on.

Exercises

Seismic Response of a Beam Structure
Random Vibration Analysis of a Deep Simply Supported Beam

Buckling Analysis

Buckling analysis is a technique used to determine buckling loads - critical loads at which a structure becomes unstable - and buckled mode shapes - the characteristic shape associated with a structure's buckled response.

Two techniques are available in the ANSYS Multiphysics, ANSYS Mechanical, ANSYS Structural, and ANSYS Professional programs for predicting the buckling load and buckling mode shape of a structure: nonlinear buckling analysis, and eigenvalue (or linear) buckling analysis. Since these two methods frequently yield quite different results, let's examine the differences between them before discussing the details of their implementation.

Exercises

1. Buckling of a Bar with Hinged Ends (Line Elements)

Buckling of a Bar with Hinged Ends (Area Elements)

Snap-Through Buckling of a Hinged Shell

Transient Dynamic Analysis- Some Theory

Transient dynamic analysis (sometimes called time-history analysis) is a technique used to determine the dynamic response of a structure under the action of any general time-dependent loads. You can use this type of analysis to determine the time-varying displacements, strains, stresses, and forces in a structure as it responds to any combination of static, transient, and harmonic loads. The time scale of the loading is such that the inertia or damping effects are considered to be important. If the inertia and damping effects are not important, you might be able to use a static analysis instead.

Exercises

Transient Response to a Constant Force
Transient Response of a Ball Impacting a Flexible Surface
Plastic Response to a Suddenly Applied Constant Force
Transient Response of a Drop Container
Transient Response of a Spring-mass System

Nonlinear Structural Analysis

Geometric Nonlinearities

If a structure experiences large deformations, its changing geometric configuration can cause the structure to respond nonlinearly. An example would be the fishing rod shown in A Fishing Rod Demonstrates Geometric Nonlinearity. Geometric nonlinearity is characterized by "large" displacements and/or rotations.

Material Nonlinearities

Nonlinear stress-strain relationships are a common cause of nonlinear structural behavior. Many factors can influence a material's stress-strain properties, including load history (as in elastoplastic response), environmental conditions (such as temperature), and the amount of time that a load is applied (as in creep response). ANSYS employs the "Newton-Raphson" approach to solve nonlinear problems. In this approach, the load is subdivided into a series of load increments. The load increments can be applied over several load steps.

Exercises

Cable Supporting Hanging Loads
Residual Stress Problem)

Thermal analysis

A thermal analysis calculates the temperature distribution and related thermal quantities in a system or component. Typical thermal quantities of interest are:

§ The temperature distributions

§ The amount of heat lost or gained

§ Thermal gradients

§ Thermal fluxes.

Thermal simulations play an important role in the design of many engineering applications, including internal combustion engines, turbines, heat exchangers, piping systems, and electronic components. In many cases, engineers follow a thermal analysis with a stress analysis to calculate thermal stresses (that is, stresses caused by thermal expansions or contractions).

ANSYS supports two types of thermal analyses

Steady-state thermal analysis determines the temperature distribution and other thermal quantities under steady-state loading conditions. A steady-state loading condition is a situation where heat storage effects varying over a period of time can be ignored.
Transient thermal analysis determines the temperature distribution and other thermal quantities under conditions that vary over a period of time.

Steady-state thermal analysis