2011ANSYS,Inc.

February22,2012 1
14.0Release
ANSYSMechanical
BasicStructuralNonlinearities
Lecture1
Overview
2011ANSYS,Inc. February22,2012 2
ChapterOverview
In this chapter, an overview of the basics of nonlinear finite
element analysis (FEA) is presented:
A. What is Nonlinear Behavior?
B. Types of Nonlinearities
C. Nonlinear solution using linear solvers
D. Nonlinear FEA issues
The purpose is to give you an understanding of the fundamental nature of
nonlinear FEA.
The capabilities described in this section are generally applicable to Structural
licenses and above.
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A.Whatisnonlinearbehavior?
Recall, in the 1600s, Robert Hooke discovered a simple linear relationship
between force (F) and displacement (u), known as Hookes Law:
F=Ku
TheconstantKrepresentsstructuralstiffness.
Alinear structureobeysthislinearrelationship.
Acommonexampleisasimplespring:
K
F
u
K
F
u
Linearstructuresarewellsuitedtofiniteelementanalysis,whichis
basedonlinearmatrixalgebra.
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Significant classes of structures do not have a linear relationship between force
and displacement.
BecauseaplotofFversusuforsuchstructuresisnot astraightline,such
structuresaresaidtobenonlinear.
Thestiffnessisnolongeraconstant,butvariesasyouprogressthroughtheloadpath
K
T
(tangentstiffness)representsthetangenttotheforcedeflectioncurveataparticular
pointintheloadpath.
...Whatisnonlinearbehavior?
F
u
K
T
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...Whatisnonlinearbehavior?
A structure is nonlinear if the loading causes significant changes in stiffness.
Typical reasons for stiffness change are:
Strainsbeyondtheelasticlimit(plasticity)
Largedeflections,suchasaloadedfishingrod
ChangingStatus(Contactbetweentwobodies,Elementbirth/death)
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B.TypesofNonlinearities
Therearethreemainsourcesofnonlinearities:
Geometricnonlinearities:Ifastructure
experienceslargedeformations,its
changinggeometricconfigurationcan
causenonlinearbehavior.
Materialnonlinearities:Anonlinearstressstrain
relationship,suchasmetalplasticityshownon
theright,isanothersourceofnonlinearities.
Contact:A changingstatusnonlinearity,where
anabruptchangeinstiffnessmayoccurwhen
bodiescomeintooroutofcontactwitheach
other.
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TypesofNonlinearities
Ofcourse,allthreetypesofnonlinearitiescanbeencounteredincombination.
Mechanicalcanreadilyhandlecombinednonlineareffects.
RubberBootSeal
Anexampleofnonlinear
geometry(largestrainand
largedeformation),
nonlinearmaterial
(rubber),andchanging
statusnonlinearities
(contact).
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B.Nonlinearsolutionusinglinearsolvers
HowdoesMechanical solveforachangingstiffness?
Inanonlinearanalysis,theresponsecannotbepredicteddirectlywithasetoflinear
equations.
However,anonlinearstructurecanbeanalyzedusinganiterativeseriesoflinear
approximations,withcorrections.
MechanicalusesaniterativeprocesscalledtheNewtonRaphson Method.Eachiteration
isknownasanequilibriumiteration.
F
u
Displacement
Load
1
2
3
4
AfullNewtonRaphson iterative
analysisforoneincrementofload.
(Fouriterationsareshown.)
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Nonlinearsolutionusinglinearsolvers
IntheNewtonRaphsonMethod,thetotal
loadF
a
isappliediniteration1.Theresult
isx
1
.Fromthedisplacements,theinternal
forcesF
1
canbecalculated.IfF
a
F
1
,then
thesystemisnotinequilibrium.Hence,
anewstiffnessmatrix(slopeofdottedline)is
calculatedbasedonthecurrentconditions.
ThedifferenceofF
a
F
1
istheoutofbalance
orresidualforces.Theresidualforcesmust
besmallenoughforthesolutiontoconverge.
ThisprocessisrepeateduntilF
a
=F
i
.Inthisexample,afteriteration4,thesystemachieves
equilibriumandthesolutionissaidtobeconverged.
F
a
x
1
2
3
4
Newton-Raphson Method
F
1
x
1
Theactualrelationshipbetweenloadanddisplacement(shown
withabluedottedline)isnotknownbeforehand.
Consequently,aseriesoflinearapproximationswithcorrectionsisperformed.
ThisisasimplifiedexplanationoftheNewtonRaphson method(shownas
solidredlines)
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Nonlinearsolutionusinglinearsolvers
The difference between external and internal loads, {F
a
} {F
nr
}, is called the
residual. It is a measure of the force imbalance in the structure.
The goal is to iterate until the residual becomes acceptably small; that is,
until the solution is converged.
When convergence is achieved, the solution is in equilibrium, within an
acceptable tolerance.
{F
a
} {F
nr
}
F
a
F
nr
u
{
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...Nonlinearsolutionusinglinearsolvers
F
u Displacement
Load
u
start
Diverging!
F
u
Displacement
Load
u
start
Converged
Starting outside the
radius of convergence
Starting inside the radius
of convergence
TheNewtonRaphson method:
Is not guaranteed to converge in all cases!
Will converge only if the starting configuration is inside the radius of
convergence.
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...Nonlinearsolutionusinglinearsolvers
Twotechniquescanhelpyouobtainaconvergedsolution:
F
u
u
start
Apply load incrementally to move
the target closer to the start
F
1
F
u u
start
Use convergence-enhancement
tools to enlarge the radius of
convergence
Mechanical combinesbothstrategiestoobtainconvergence.
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...Nonlinearsolutionusinglinearsolvers
Asageneralrule,suddenchangestoanyaspectofasystemwillcause
convergencedifficulties.
Withthisinmind,itisusefultounderstandhowloadsaremanaged
Loadstepsdifferentiatechangesingeneralloading.
IntheFigureatthebottomright,F
a
andF
b
areloadsteps.
Substeps applytheloadsinanincrementalfashion
Becauseofthecomplexresponse,it
maybenecessarytoapplytheload
incrementally.Forexample,F
a1
maybe
near50%oftheF
a
load.Aftertheload
forF
a1
isconverged,thenthefullF
a
load
isapplied.F
a
has2substeps whileF
b
has3substeps inthisexample
Equilibriumiterations arethecorrective
solutionstoobtainaconvergedsubstep
Inthisexample,theiterationsbetweenthedottedlinesindicateequilibriumiterations.
F
a
x
a
F
b
x
b
F
a1
F
b2
F
b1
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C.NonlinearFEAIssues
Threemainissuesarisewheneveryoudoanonlinearfiniteelementanalysis:
Obtainingconvergence
Balancingexpenseversusaccuracy
Verification
Ittakescareandskillto
jugglethesethree
issuessuccessfully!
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NonlinearFEAIssues
Obtainingconvergence
Usuallyyourbiggestchallenge.
Solutionmuststartwithintheradiusofconvergence.
Theradiusofconvergenceisunknown!
Ifsolutionconverges,thestartwaswithintheradius.
Ifsolutionfailstoconverge,thestartwasoutsidetheradius.
Trialanderrorissometimesrequired.
Experienceandtrainingreduceyourtrialanderroreffort.
Difficult problems might require many load increments, and many iterations at
each load increment, to reach convergence.
Whenmanyiterationsarerequired,theoverallsolutiontimeincreases.
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NonlinearFEAIssues
Balancingexpenseversusaccuracy
All FEA involves a tradeoff between expense (elapsed time, disk and memory
requirements) and accuracy.
More detail and a finer mesh generally lead to a more accurate solution, but
require more time and system resources.
Nonlinear analyses add an extra factor, the number of load increments, which
affects both accuracy and expense. More increments =improve the accuracy,
with increase the expense.
Other nonlinear parameters, such as contact stiffness (discussed later), can also
affect both accuracy and expense.
Use your own engineering judgment to determine how much accuracy you
need, how much expense you can afford.
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NonlinearFEAIssues
Verification
In a nonlinear analysis, as in any finiteelement analysis, you must verify your
results.
Due to the increased complexity of nonlinear behavior, nonlinear results are
generally more difficult to verify.
Sensitivity studies (increasing mesh density, decreasing load increment, varying
other model parameters) become more expensive.
Stress
Mesh Density
Typical Sensitivity Study
Laterchapterswillprovidemodelingtipsfordifferentnonlinearsituations.