Cornell University April 1, 2002

ANSYS Example: VIBRATION AND HARMONIC RESPONSE

Rajesh Bhaskaran
E-mail: rb88@cornell.edu
The problem considered here is the vibration analysis of the right-angle frame in example 11.17 on page 436 of
Cook et al.

2m
B
C
oo

3m

E=200e9 Pa
ν=0.29
ρ=7860 kg/m3
4
I= 0.1
12

Solution Steps
As in the previous examples, the solution steps are:
1. Start-up and preliminary set-up
2. Specify element type and constants

3. Specify material properties

4. Specify geometry
5. Mesh geometry
6. Specify analysis type and boundary conditions
7. Solve!
8. Analyze the solution

1
Start-Up and Preliminary Set-Up
Create a folder called dynamics at a convenient location. Start ANSYS. Enter the location of the dynamics folder you
just created as your Working directory by browsing to it. Specify raf as your Initial jobname. Click on Run. As before,
we’ll more or less work our way down the Main Menu.
Set preference: Preferences → Structural → OK.
For convenience, we’ll create scalar parameters corresponding to E, ν, ρ, and I. In the Utility Menu (at the
top), click on Parameters → Scalar Parameters.... Enter the parameter values shown below and click on Accept after
entering each one in the list:
E=200e9
nu=0.29
rho=7860
h=0.1
I=1e-4/12
Close the Scalar Parameters window. Now we can enter these variable names instead of the corresponding values as
we set up the problem in ANSYS.

Specify Element Type and Constants

In Preprocessor menu: Element Type → Add/Edit/Delete... → Add...
Pick Beam in the left field and 2D elastic 3 in the right field. Click OK to select this element.
Real constants → Add/Edit/Delete... → Add...
This brings up the Element Type for Real Constants dialog box with a list of the element type(s) defined in the previous
step. Click OK to select the BEAM3 element. Enter the following values:
AREA h*h
IZZ I
HEIGHT h
Save your work by clicking on the SAVE DB button in the ANSYS Toolbar.

Specify Material Properties

Preprocessor → Material Props → Material Models.
In the Define Material Model Behavior menu, double-click on Structural, Linear, Elastic, and Isotropic. Enter E for
Young’s modulus EX, nu for Poisson’s Ratio PRXY and click OK. Double-click on Density under Structural. Enter
rho for DENS and click OK. This completes the specification for Material Model #1. Close the Define Material Model
Behavior menu.
Save your work by clicking on the SAVE DB button.

Specify Geometry
Create keypoints: -Modeling- Create → Keypoints → In Active CS
Keypoint 1: X=0, Y=0
Keypoint 2: X=0, Y=3
Keypoint 3: X=2, Y=3

Create lines AB and BC: -Modeling- Create → Lines → In Active Coord

Pick keypoint 1 followed by kepoint 2.
Pick keypoint 2 followed by kepoint 3.
Save your work by clicking SAVE DB.

Mesh Geometry
Bring up the MeshTool. Click on Set under Element Attributes in the MeshTool. This brings up the Meshing Attributes
menu. You will see that the correct element type, real constant set and material number are already selected since we

2
have only one of each. Close this menu.

Define number of elements to use for each line: we’ll use 30 elements for AB and 20 for BC to be consistent with
Cook et al.
Under Size Controls and Lines, click Set. Pick line AB, enter 30 for NDIV and click Apply.
Pick line BC, enter 20 for NDIV and click OK.

We can now mesh the geometry. Click on Mesh. This brings up the pick menu. Click on Pick All. The geome-
try has been meshed. You can close the MeshTool. Save your work by clicking SAVE DB.

Specify Analysis Type and Boundary Conditions

Enter Solution menu.
New Analysis → Modal
Analysis Options: Enter 10 for No of modes to extract. Click OK and then OK again to accept defaults for the Block
Lanczos method.

Apply displacement constraint at A: Loads → -Loads- Apply → Displacement → On Keypoints

Pick the keypoint at A. Select UX and UY, enter 0 for displacement value and click OK.
Pick the keypoint at C. Select UY, enter 0 for displacement value and click OK.

Specify damping ratio: -Load Step Opts-Time/Frequenc → Damping

Enter 0.02 for Constant damping ratio and click OK.
Click SAVE DB to save.

Solution
-Solve-Current LS
Review the information in the /STAT Command window. Close this window. Click OK in Solve Current Load Step
dialog box. ANSYS performs the solution and a yellow window should pop up saying Solution is done!.

Postprocessing
Enter the General Postprocessing module by clicking on General Postproc in the Main Menu. Click on Results Sum-
mary. This shows you the cyclic frequencies of the ten modes. Compare with values in the book.
To take a look at the mode shape for mode 2:
-Read Results-By Set Number. Enter 2 for NSET.
Plot Results → Deformed Shape. Select Def+undeformed.
This plots the mode shape for mode 2. Similarly, look at other mode shapes and compare them with figure 11.17-2 in
the book.

Table 11.17-1 gives amplitude values for selected d.o.f. for three nodes. To find the node numbers corresponding
to the ones in the table, turn on node numbering:
Utility Menu → PlotCtrls → Numbering. Turn on Node numbers. Click OK.
Use Utility Menu → Plot → Multiplots if you need to refresh the screen.
By comparing the node numbers, we find:
Cook et al. ANSYS
Node number 16 17
41 42
51 32
Determine the displacement amplitude at node 17 for mode 3:
-Read Results-By Set Number. Enter 3 for NSET.
List Results → Nodal Solution. Select UCOMP.
From the list, the displacement amplitude, denoted as USUM, is 23.9e-3. The corresponding value in table 11.17-1 is

3
23.8e-3. Similarly, you can determine the other entries in this table. Note that the rotational d.o.f. to use for the second
row in the table is ROTZ.

Steps in Harmonic Response Analysis

Determine response for F = 3000 sin(Ωt) acting in the horizontal direction at C.
1. Main Menu → Solution → New Analysis
Select Harmonic
2. Solution → Analysis Options
Select Full under Solution Method and Amplitud+phase under DOF printout format. Click OK and then OK
again.
3. Loads → -Loads- Apply → Force/Moment → On Keypoints
Pick keypoint at C. Direction of force is FX and VALUE = 3000.

4. Solution → -Load Step Opts-Time/Frequenc → Freq and Substps.

Set Harmonic freq range: 50 to 160
Number of substeps: 110
Stepped or ramped b.c.: Select Stepped
5. -Load Step Opts-Time/Frequenc → Damping
Enter 0.02 for Constant damping ratio.
6. -Solve-Current LS
7. To make a plot like the one in figure 11.17-3(b) of amplitude vs. frequency at specified node:
Main Menu → TimeHist PostPro
Define variables → Add → Nodal DOF result
Pick any node. Click OK and enter 17 for Node number, UX for Comp.
Graph Variables: Enter NVAR1=2

Reference
Cook, R.D., Malkus, D.S., Plesha, M.E., and Witt,R.J., Concepts and Applications of Finite Element Analysis, Fourth
Edition, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.