ME 443/643

Design Techniques in
Mechanical Engineering
Lecture 5:
Altair: Material Model & Units
Instructor:
Dr. Jagadeep Thota

ME 443/643: Material Models

JT

Material Types
All the finite element (FE) materials can be broadly
classified into the following types:
Isotropic
The characteristics of the material remain same along any axis
or plane
Example: All metals and alloys

Orthotropic
This material has mechanical properties that are different along
three mutually perpendicular directions
Example: Any composite material (fiber-glass, kevlar-epoxy,
etc), wood (assumed), etc.

Anisotropic
The material properties are different along any axis or plane
Example: Concrete, sand, wood, foam, composite materials, etc
ME 443/643: Material Models

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Radioss
Radioss is the processor or solver available in
HyperWorks software
Can process linear (bulk format) and non-linear
material models (block format)
We will for now limit our study to linear analysis
(bulk format) in Radioss
Radioss (bulk format) has a total of 7 material
models:

Isotropic: MAT1 & MAT4

Orthotropic: MAT5 & MAT8 (2D elements only)
Anisotropic: MAT2 (2D only) & MAT9 (3D elements only)
Fluid: MAT10

ME 443/643: Material Models

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MAT1
Defines the material properties for linear, temperature-independent,
isotropic materials

ME 443/643: Material Models

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For a simple linear structural

non-temperature analysis only
E, NU & RHO need to be
defined
For thermal stresses A and
TREF are defined

When conducting vibrational analysis, there

might be a need to define GE
GE = 2*(critical damping coefficient)
This material model can be used to define a
composite material by assuming the properties
of the material are predominant in only one
direction.
In such a case, the stress limits ST, SC & SS
need to be defined for failure analysis

MAT4
This material card is needed for heat transfer problems like
conduction and convection

ME 443/643: Material Models

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This card can be used in

combination with either MAT1,
MAT2, MAT8 or MAT9 card for
conducting a combined
structural-heat transfer problem

MAT5
Defines the thermal material properties for orthotropic (and also can
be used for anisotropic) materials

ME 443/643: Material Models

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MAT8
Defines the material properties for linear temperature-independent
orthotropic material for two-dimensional elements

ME 443/643: Material Models

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MAT2
Defines the material properties for linear, temperature-independent,
anisotropic materials for two-dimensional elements

ME 443/643: Material Models

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MAT9
Defines the material properties for linear, temperature-independent,
anisotropic materials for solid elements

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Creating Radioss Material Cards

in HyperMesh

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Opening Radioss in HyperMesh

(1)

(2)

(3)

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Geometry Creation
Create a square of 2 units length

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Meshing
Mesh the square geometry with 2D elements
We will go in detail regarding meshing in the next class

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ME 443/643: Material Models

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Meshing

ME 443/643: Material Models

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Meshing

Try the by window and by collector options too when practicing

ME 443/643: Material Models

JT

Meshing

ME 443/643: Material Models

JT

Meshing
When your FE model is ready to be solved, all the lines, nodes, surfaces (and any
unwanted components) created for meshing need to be deleted
Do not delete the nodes formed when the mesh was created
Hence, to make our life easy, we tell HyperMesh to delete the surface automatically
when it has created the mesh

(2)
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ME 443/643: Material Models

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Meshing

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(4)

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Meshing

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Deleting the Geometry

When deleting the geometry objects like lines and nodes, it is a good practice to hide
the elements so that you do not delete the element nodes by mistake.

Click on this icon to

hide/show the elements
of the auto1 component

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ME 443/643: Material Models

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Deleting Geometry Line

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Deleting Geometry Lines

(1)

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Deleting Geometry Nodes

(1)

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Deleting Geometry Nodes

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Unhide the Mesh

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Material Collector

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Create MAT1

(2)

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Create MAT1

(2)

(1)

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Enter the Properties for MAT1 Card

(1)
(2)

(3)

(4)

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Creating MAT1

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Assigning MAT Collector to Component

The created material collector needs to be assigned to the intended component (auto1)

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Assigning Material to Component

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Assigning Material to Component

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Assigning Material to Component

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Assigning Material to Component

ME 443/643: Material Models

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Assigning Material to Component

ME 443/643: Material Models

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Assigning Material to Component

ME 443/643: Material Models

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Assigning Material to Component

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Units
Like most of the FE software, there is no option to choose a
particular unit system in HyperMesh
It is left to the user to maintain consistency in the units
Length, mass and time are the basic units
Based on these the units of other quantities should be maintained
consistent

Example: A FE model created with the following basic units

Length = mm, Mass = kg, Time = s
The derived quantities should be having units as shown below to
maintain consistency

Force = mass x acceleration = kg x mm/s2 = N/1000 = mN

Pressure/Stress = Force/Area = N/mm2 = 1x106 Pa = MPa

Density = Mass/Volume = kg/mm3

ME 443/643: Material Models

JT

Consistent Units
Mass
kg

Length
m

Time
s

Force
N

Stress
Pa

Energy
J

kg
kg

mm
mm

s
ms

mN
kN

MPa
GPa

mJ
kN-mm

Slug
lbf-s2/in
ton

ft
in
mm

s
s
s

lbf
lbf
N

psf
psi
MPa

lbf-ft
Ibf-in
N-mm

1 slug = 32.18 kg
1 kg/m3 = 0.9112 slug/ft3
1 N = 0.2248 lbf
1 ft = 0.3048 m

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Ending Remarks
Practice creating components and assigning
material models to them
In a FE model make sure the units are
consistent
Inconsistency in the units is the number one reason
for new FEA users to get incorrect results

Next Class
Look at common types of elements
Create 1D, 2D and 3D elements using HyperMesh
HW 1 is due

ME 443/643: Material Models

JT