Transient Response Analysis

Transient response analysis is used to calculate the response of a structure to time-dependent loads. Typical applications are structures subject to earthquakes, wind, explosions, or a vehicle going through a pothole. The loads are time-dependent forces and displacements. Initial conditions define the initial displacement and initial velocities in grid points. The results of a transient response analysis are displacements, velocities, accelerations, forces, stresses, and strains. The responses are usually time-dependent. The transient response analysis computes the structural responses solving the following equation of motion with initial conditions in matrix form.

The matrix K is the global stiffness matrix, the matrix M the mass matrix, and the matrix B is the damping matrix formed by the damping elements. The initial conditions are part of the problem formulation and are applicable for the direct transient response only. The equation of motion is integrated over time using the Newmark beta method. A time step and an end time need to be defined. The direct and modal transient response is implemented in OptiStruct. Direct Transient Response The equation of motion is solved directly using Newmark beta. The use of complex coefficients for damping is not allowed in transient response analysis. Therefore, structural damping is included using equivalent viscous damping. The damping matrix B is composed of several contributions as follows

where is the matrix of the viscous damper elements, plus the external damping matrices input through DMIG; G is the overall structural damping (PARAM, G); is the frequency of interest for the conversion of the overall structural damping into equivalent viscous damping (PARAM, W3); is the frequency of interest for the conversion of the element structural damping into equivalent viscous damping (PARAM, W4); and is the contribution from structural element damping coefficients GE. The transient response loads and boundary conditions are defined in the bulk data section of the input deck. They need to be referenced in the subcase information section using an SPC statement and a DLOAD statement in a SUBCASE. Inertia relief is not implemented for direct frequncy response in OptiStruct. OptiStruct will error out if it is attempted. Only one transient subcase can be defined. Initial conditions need to be referenced through the IC subcase statement. The analysis time step and termination time need to be defined through a TSTEP(TIME) subcase reference. In addition to the various damping elements and material damping, uniform structural damping G can be applied using PARAM, G. Modal Transient Response In the modal method a normal modes analysis to obtain the eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenvectors of the system is performed first. The state vector u can be expressed as a scalar product of the eigenvectors X and the modal responses d.

u = Xd
The equation of motion without damping is then transformed into modal coordinates using the eigenvectors

The modal mass matrix and the modal stiffness matrix are diagonal. This way the system equation is reduced to a set of uncoupled equations for the components of d that can be solved easily. The inclusion of damping yields

Here, the matrices are generally non-diagonal. The then coupled problem is similar to the system solved in the direct method, but of much lesser degree of freedom. The solution of the reduced equation of motion is performed using the Newmark beta method. The decoupling of the equations can be maintained if the damping is applied to each mode separately. This is done through a damping table TABDMP1 that lists damping values versus natural frequency . The decoupled equation is:

where

is the modal damping ratio, and

is the modal eigenvalue.

Three types of modal damping values can be defined: G Structural damping, CRIT Critical damping, and Q Quality factor. They are related through the following three equations at resonance:

The accuracy of the modal method can be vastly improved by adding the displacement vectors of a static analysis based on the dynamic loading to the matrix of eigenvectors X. These vectors are frequently referred to as residual vectors, the method as modal acceleration. There are two ways this is implemented in OptiStruct. The unit load method generates residual vectors based on static loads, which are unit vectors at the dynamic load degrees of freedom. That is, the static loads for the residual vector generation are unit vectors at the degrees of freedom where the dynamic load is applied. The number of residual vectors is equal to the number of loaded degrees of freedom. The applied load method generates a maximum of two residual vectors which are the dynamic load vector at loading frequency of zero. If the real and the imaginary parts of the dynamic load are the same, or if one of them is zero, only one of them is used. This is the default method since it generally more efficient. In the case of excited displacements, the residual vectors are obtained by solving static load cases with unit displacements at the same degrees of freedom as the dynamic excited displacement degrees of freedom. Transient response loads and boundary conditions are defined in the bulk data section of the input deck. They need to be referenced in the subcase information section using an SPC statement and a DLOAD statement in a SUBCASE. Residual vectors can be activated using the subcase statement RESVEC with the options APPLOD or UNITLOD. They are computed by default. When residual vectors are included, inertia relief can be applied to unconstrained models. A SUPORT1 subcase entry references the boundary conditions that restrain the rigid body motions. These restraints can also be defined without subcase reference using the SUPORT bulk data entry or automated using PARAM, INREL, -2. Only one transient subcase can be defined. Initial conditions cannot be defined if the modal method is used. A METHOD statement is required for the modal method to control the normal modes analysis. The analysis time step and termination time need to be defined through a TSTEP(TIME) subcase reference. In order to save computational effort, previously saved eigenvectors can be retrieved using the EIGVRETRIEVE subcase statement. Residual vectors can be activated using the subcase statement RESVEC with the options APPLOD or UNITLOD. They are computed by default. Residual vectors are always generated if enforced displacements, velocities or accelerations are defined. In addition to the various damping elements and material damping, uniform structural damping G is applied using PARAM, G. Modal damping can be applied using the SDAMPING reference of a damping table TABDMP1.