Lecture 3

Part Definitions
14.5 Release

ANSYS LS-DYNA
in Mechanical APDL
© 2012 ANSYS, Inc. February 5, 2013 1 Release 14.5
 Objectives
• This lecture covers understanding, defining, and using Parts in ANSYS LS-DYNA.
• Topics:
A. What is a Part ?
B. Part Use in ANSYS LS-DYNA
C. Creating, Updating, and Listing Parts
D. Recommended Part Procedures
E. Selecting and Plotting Parts
F. Part Assemblies
G. Part Definitions Workshop

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 A. What is a Part ?
• A Part is a group of elements that have the same combination of element type,
real constant set, and material reference numbers. Typically, a Part is a specific
“entity” within a model. This entity is then given a reference number, called a
Part ID, that can be used in subsequent ANSYS LS-DYNA commands.
• To demonstrate how Parts are defined in a finite element analysis, consider the
problem of a sphere in normal contact with a plate. As depicted below, the
model consists of two distinct parts: one for the sphere and one for the plate.

PART 1: BALL
Mat 1: Si3N4 Ceramic
Real 1
Type 1: SOLID164

PART 2: PLATE
Mat 2: Steel
Real 2
Type 2: SOLID164

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 B. Part Use In ANSYS LS-DYNA
• Parts are very important because many ANSYS LS-DYNA commands refer directly to
Part IDs.

• The following are some tasks that can incorporate Part IDs:
– Defining or deleting contact (EDCGEN and EDDC commands)
– Defining rigid body loads, constraints, inertia properties, or assemblies (EDLOAD,
EDCRB, EDIPART, and EDASMP commands)
– Reading Time History material data (EDREAD command)
– Applying damping to a portion of the model (EDDAMP command)

Example:

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 C. Creating, Updating, & Listing Parts
• Parts are created (automatically generated), updated, user-
defined, deleted, and listed using the EDPART command. The
menu path is:
– Preprocessor > LS-DYNA Options > Parts Options

• To create parts within a model, simply select the OK button after

picking Create all parts. Part IDs will be automatically generated
from a sequential list of the selected elements.

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 … Creating, Updating, & Listing Parts
• For every element type, real constant set, OR material reference number change
in the element list, a new Part ID will automatically be assigned to that group of
elements.

• After the Parts have been created, they are listed to the screen (or output file).
They can also be listed using the EDPART command:
– Preprocessor > LS-DYNA Options > Parts Options > List Parts

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 … Creating, Updating, & Listing Parts
• In a Part listing, Part ID numbers are given in the PART column with the
corresponding MAT, TYPE, and REAL numbers.

• The USED column indicates the number of elements of each part

that were currently selected when the part list was last created or
updated.
• An UNUSED Part ID (USED=0) is any combination of MAT, TYPE, and
REAL numbers that is not referred to by any currently selected
elements. Unused Parts typically occur when elements are deleted
from a model.

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 … Creating, Updating, & Listing Parts
• If a Part listing shows automatically generated UNUSED Parts in the model,
these Parts can be eliminated by recreating the Part list (EDPART, CREATE).
Recreating the list will compress the unused Part numbers so that the total
number of Parts in the model will be reduced. However, ...

• If automatically generated Parts are repeatedly created using the EDPART,

CREATE command, the Part list will be continuously overwritten. This may
cause problems for a previously defined command (e.g., EDLOAD) that
references a particular Part number that has now changed.

• In order to eliminate such a problem, the part list can be Updated (rather than
recreated) to obtain the current Part list.

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 … Creating, Updating, & Listing Parts
• Updating the Part list extends the existing Part definitions without changing
their order and allows elements to be added to an existing Part (elements with
a unique combination of MAT, TYPE, and REAL numbers).

• To Update the Part list, issue the EDPART, UPDATE command:

– Preprocessor > LS-DYNA Options > Parts Options > Update Parts

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 … Creating, Updating, & Listing Parts
• Another way to preserve a Part number is to add user-defined (manually
generated) Part IDs. Simply select a group of elements with a unique
combination of MAT, TYPE, and REAL numbers and specify the desired Part ID
via the EDPART, ADD command:
– Preprocessor > LS-DYNA Options > Parts Options > Add Part

An element component can be used.

• Part ID 11 contains 16
elements with the same
MAT – TYPE - REAL
combination that Part 1
has ...
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 … Creating, Updating, & Listing Parts
• User-defined (manually generated) Part IDs will not be overwritten by subsequent
EDPART,CREATE or EDPART,UPDATE commands, even if all of the corresponding
elements are deleted. However, the Part ID can be changed with a subsequent
EDPART,ADD command.

• Part ID 11 elements
re-specified as Part
ID 12 elements.

• To delete a user-defined Part ID, issue EDPART, DELETE:

– Preprocessor > LS-DYNA Options > Parts Options > Delete Part

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 … Creating, Updating, & Listing Parts

• Elements from
Part ID 12 now
in Part ID 1

• Although user-defined Part ID 12 was deleted, the corresponding elements were

not. Instead, those 16 elements were automatically assigned to Part ID 1, since
Part ID 1 had the same MAT, TYPE, and REAL numbers as the elements formerly in
Part ID 12.
• Note that Part ID 11 remains, even though it consists of no elements.
• EDPART,DELETE has no effect on automatically generated Part IDs. It only
deletes user-defined Part IDs.

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 D. Recommended Part Procedures
• Create the Part list (EDPART, CREATE) the first time that a Part-specific
command is needed. Use the appropriate Part number from the listing for the
command. If need be, create user-defined Part IDs of unique combinations of
MAT, TYPE, and REAL numbers.

• After any subsequent meshing, update (EDPART, UPDATE) the current Part list
before another Part-related command is issued.

• Repeat the last step, as needed.

Note: The Part list is updated (or created if it does not yet exist) and
remains permanent upon issuing the SOLVE command. If a command
references a Part ID that is not defined, the solution will be
terminated.

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 E. Selecting and Plotting Parts
• The ELIST, ALL, , , , , 1 command lists the Part IDs in an element list
(PTKEY = 1):
– Utility Menu > List > Elements > Nodes + Attr + Part IDs

• The ESEL, ,PART command is used to select elements

belonging to existing Part IDs:
– Utility Menu > Select > Entities ... > Elements
> By Attributes > LS-DYNA Part ID > 1, 2 > OK

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 ... Selecting and Plotting Parts
• The /PNUM,PART,1 command identifies the Part ID (and corresponding color via
/NUM) associated with each element in an element plot:
• Utility Menu > PlotCtrls > Numbering …
> [/PNUM] Plot Numbering Controls > Elem / Attrib numbering > Part numbers >
[/NUM] Numbering shown with > Colors & numbers > OK

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 F. Part Assemblies
• Parts can be grouped into an assembly using the EDASMP command.
– Preprocessor > LS-DYNA Options > Assembly Options ...

• EDASMP, , ASMID, PART1, PART2, …, PART16

– Up to 16 Parts can be grouped into an assembly
– ASMID = part assembly no. ( must be greater than highest part no.)
• Part assemblies are most commonly used when defining contact
– Cont and Targ fields of the EDCGEN command

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 ... Part Assemblies
• To create a part assembly, simply
define the group of parts, making
sure that any assembly number is
larger than what will be the highest
Part number at solution time.
• Part Assemblies can also be listed or
deleted:
– EDASMP, Delete, ASMID

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 G. Part Definitions Workshop
• This workshop consists of the following problem:
• WS03. Utilizing Parts in a Contact Analysis
• Please refer to your Workshop Supplement for instructions.

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