Tutorial 7 (advanced):

Snap-fit - Explicit Solution

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Learning Objective
• Create an Explicit model
o Density Scaling
o Step length
o Load amplitude
o Element size
• Tidy geometry using the Virtual Topology tool
• Utilise additional processors
• Expand on Post-Processing knowledge
o Mirroring results
o Animate XY plot

Learning Note: This is a typical problem that indicates the limitations with
stability for the Implicit solver. The application is simple, however the implicit
solver struggles with the ‘free flight’ phase as the two components snap into
place due to the sudden change in the geometry and contact.

Problems like this tend toward an Explicit solution, however it is important to be

aware that along with the advantages of an Explicit solver there are also
disadvantages. The following tutorials are set out to highlight the pro’s and
con’s of each solver, for further information refer to the lecture slides.

In this tutorial two techniques have been employed to reduce the run time
required. The first is to remove any small elements that occur and the second
is to apply a slight increase to the material density. Attention to these aspects
will allow a solution to be run in a sensible time-frame without dramatically
reducing the accuracy of the results.

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 Geometry, Materials and Assembly
The geometry has been reduced to ¼ model due to the available symmetry, as
was shown in previous tutorials. It is also possible to analyse this as 2D
geometry, if preferred.

• Import the geometry – Tutorial 7.stp

The density definition is located in the ‘General’ property definition. Note that the
units for density is Tonne/mm3 when modelling in mm.

• Define the following material properties

o Density: 3e-9 Tonne/mm3
o Modulus: 3,000 MPa
o Poisson’s: 0.4

• Create a section and apply it to both components

• Instance the assembly

Analysis Steps
So far we have been defining a Static-General step for our analyses. To run an
Explicit analysis we need to specify an Explicit step in the step module.

• Create a ‘Dynamic, Explicit’ step

• Specify a time period of 0.1 and include Nlgeom effects

• Create a second step with the same properties

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 Contact, Loads and Boundary Conditions
Contact definitions in an Implicit and Explicit analysis follow the same procedure.

• Create an interaction property with a friction coefficient of 0.2

• Create a general interaction, including the ‘All with self’ definition, in Step-1

As we require the latching force and know the displacement required to latch the
components we will control this using a fixed displacement.

• Apply a 15 mm displacement, in Step-1, in the x-direction, to the rear face

of one component

Explicit analyses require an amplitude graph to be defined if a non-zero

displacement is specified. The amplitude graph will relate to the step time, i.e. a
time period of 0.1 for this tutorial. We require a linear load application from 0 at
the start of the step to 100% at the end of the step.

• Create a tabular amplitude graph with the following values;

Time Amplitude
0 0
0.1 1

• Apply the new amplitude graph and OK the definition

• Modify the displacement in Step-2 to -15 mm

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 • Fully fix the opposing end on the opposing component in all 3 directions

• Create zero boundary conditions (i.e. symmetry), in the appropriate

directions on the two symmetry planes, in Step-1

Along with the latching force we also wish to determine the force required to
disassemble the components. For this we need to return the components to their
original state.

Meshing
The meshing aspect of an Explicit solution is critical to the run time as the
increment size is limited by the smallest element length in the model. For more
information refer to Lecture 15 or enquire about the advanced Explicit course.

Abaqus’ virtual topology feature allows for problematic geometry to be removed

and therefore a smoother mesh to be applied. The tutorial covers manually
selecting the faces to combine rather than using the automatic tool as it is
possible to create a much more uniform mesh manually, however on larger
models with many faces it may not be feasible to do this manually.

It is also possible to perform a mesh diagnostic to check things such as aspect

ratio, edge length and stable time increment using the ‘Verify Mesh’ tool . This
isn’t discussed further in this tutorial however it is useful to determine potentially
problematic geometry and elements in both explicit and implicit solutions.

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 • Go to Tools > Virtual Topology > Combine Faces

• Select the smaller face and the adjacent face as shown

• Apply a hex mesh with a global element size of 0.75mm

The resulting mesh, with and without the virtual topology is shown below. As we
can see the small elements have been removed and thus the solution time will be
increased.

• Repeat the process on the other component to remove the small face in
the same location

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 Submit the Job
Note that if you are running this tutorial on your own machine you may only use
multiple processors if you have adequate tokens.

• Create a Job and in the Parallelization tab tick the box to use 2 processors

• Accept the default settings and submit the job

The solution monitor for an Explicit solution differs slightly from that of an Implicit
solution. We are interested in the stable time increment, as this indicates the
speed at which the solver is working. Typically a stable time increment of E-5 is
considered good and E-9 is considered acceptable for certain situations
(depending on the total length of the analysis). Anything smaller than E-9 may
take too long to complete.

On 2 processors this problem will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

By default the Field Output request is set to 20 evenly spaced time intervals, per
step. For a step time of 0.1 we get a set of results printed out at a total time of
0.005.

Once the total time in the job monitor has reached 0.005 we can start viewing the
results.

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 Post Processing
Post-Processing the results is the same as previous tutorials. We can view
stresses, displacements etc. as with previous solutions, however for presentation
purposes we may require to view the whole geometry rather than the ¼ geometry
that we modelled.

• Go to View > ODB Display Options > Mirror/Pattern

• Select the appropriate planes to mirror the geometry about

It may be necessary to think back to where the symmetry boundary conditions

were applied to determine which planes are appropriate to mirror the geometry
about.

We can create a reaction force graph in the same way as we did in the previous
tutorial to determine the force required for latching and unlatching.

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Note that as we have modelled ¼ of the geometry, the reported reaction force
represents ¼ of the total force.

The reaction force graph shows how the assembly force is less than the
disassembly force.

It is possible to animate the XY plot and contour plot at the same time in order to
determine what aspects of the graph relates to the deformed plot.

Create and stack two viewports, one with the XY plot and one with the contour
plot. Using the ‘Animation Options’ tool link the two viewports and animate
them using a time-based definition. In this case it is most appropriate to use a
time definition equivalent to the frequency that the results were written out at.

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