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ANSYS BASIC INTERMEDIATE ADVANCED POSTPROC. COMMAND PRINTABLE
UofA ANSYS Tutorial
UTILITIES TUTORIALS TUTORIALS TUTORIALS TUTORIALS LINE FILES VERSION
Effect of Self Weight
Distributed Loading
Harmonic Analysis of a Cantilever Beam
NonLinear Analysis
Solution Tracking Introduction
Buckling
This tutorial was created using ANSYS 7.0 The purpose of this tutorial is to explain the steps required
NonLinear Materials to perform Harmonic analysis the cantilever beam shown below.
Dynamic - Modal
Dynamic - Harmonic
Dynamic - Transient
Thermal-Conduction
Thermal-Mixed Bndry
Transient Heat
Axisymmetric
Index
Contributions
Comments
We will now conduct a harmonic forced response test by applying a cyclic load (harmonic) at the end of
MecE 563 the beam. The frequency of the load will be varied from 1 - 100 Hz. The figure below depicts the beam
with the application of the load.
Mechanical Engineering
University of Alberta
ANSYS Inc.
Copyright © 2001
University of Alberta
ANSYS provides 3 methods for conducting a harmonic analysis. These 3 methods are the Full ,
Reduced and Modal Superposition methods.
This example demonstrates the Full method because it is simple and easy to use as compared to the
other two methods. However, this method makes use of the full stiffness and mass matrices and thus is
the slower and costlier option.
Preprocessing: Defining the Problem
The simple cantilever beam is used in all of the Dynamic Analysis Tutorials. If you haven't created the
model in ANSYS, please use the links below. Both the command line codes and the GUI commands
are shown in the respective links.
Solution: Assigning Loads and Solving
1. Define Analysis Type (Harmonic)
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Solution > Analysis Type > New Analysis > Harmonic
ANTYPE,3
2. Set options for analysis type:
Select: Solution > Analysis Type > Analysis Options..
The following window will appear
As shown, select the Full Solution method, the Real + imaginary DOF printout format and
do not use lumped mass approx.
Click 'OK'
The following window will appear. Use the default settings (shown below).
3. Apply Constraints
Select Solution > Define Loads > Apply > Structural > Displacement > On Nodes
The following window will appear once you select the node at x=0 (Note small changes in
the window compared to the static examples):
Constrain all DOF as shown in the above window
4. Apply Loads:
Select Solution > Define Loads > Apply > Structural > Force/Moment > On Nodes
Select the node at x=1 (far right)
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The following window will appear. Fill it in as shown to apply a load with a real value of
100 and an imaginary value of 0 in the positive 'y' direction
Note: By specifying a real and imaginary value of the load we are providing information on
magnitude and phase of the load. In this case the magnitude of the load is 100 N and its
phase is 0. Phase information is important when you have two or more cyclic loads being
applied to the structure as these loads could be in or out of phase. For harmonic analysis, all
loads applied to a structure must have the SAME FREQUENCY.
5. Set the frequency range
Select Solution > Load Step Opts > Time/Frequency > Freq and Substps...
As shown in the window below, specify a frequency range of 0 - 100Hz, 100 substeps and
stepped b.c..
By doing this we will be subjecting the beam to loads at 1 Hz, 2 Hz, 3 Hz, ..... 100 Hz. We
will specify a stepped boundary condition (KBC) as this will ensure that the same
amplitude (100 N) will be applyed for each of the frequencies. The ramped option, on the
other hand, would ramp up the amplitude where at 1 Hz the amplitude would be 1 N and at
100 Hz the amplitude would be 100 N.
You should now have the following in the ANSYS Graphics window
6. Solve the System
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Solution > Solve > Current LS
SOLVE
Postprocessing: Viewing the Results
We want to observe the response at x=1 (where the load was applyed) as a function of frequency. We
cannot do this with General PostProcessing (POST1), rather we must use TimeHist PostProcessing
(POST26). POST26 is used to observe certain variables as a function of either time or frequency.
1. Open the TimeHist Processing (POST26) Menu
Select TimeHist Postpro from the ANSYS Main Menu.
2. Define Variables
In here we have to define variables that we want to see plotted. By default, Variable 1 is assigned
either Time or Frequency. In our case it is assigned Frequency. We want to see the displacement
UY at the node at x=1, which is node #2. (To get a list of nodes and their attributes, select Utility
Menu > List > nodes).
Select TimeHist Postpro > Variable Viewer... and the following window should pop up.
Select Add (the green '+' sign in the upper left corner) from this window and the following
window should appear
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We are interested in the Nodal Solution > DOF Solution > Y-Component of
displacement. Click OK.
Graphically select node 2 when prompted and click OK. The 'Time History Variables'
window should now look as follows
3. List Stored Variables
In the 'Time History Variables' window click the 'List' button, 3 buttons to the left of 'Add'
The following window will appear listing the data:
4. Plot UY vs. frequency
In the 'Time History Variables' window click the 'Plot' button, 2 buttons to the left of 'Add'
The following graph should be plotted in the main ANSYS window.
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Note that we get peaks at frequencies of approximately 8.3 and 51 Hz. This corresponds
with the predicted frequencies of 8.311 and 51.94Hz.
To get a better view of the response, view the log scale of UY.
Select Utility Menu > PlotCtrls > Style > Graphs > Modify Axis
The following window will appear
As marked by an 'A' in the above window, change the Y-axis scale to 'Logarithmic'
Select Utility Menu > Plot > Replot
You should now see the following
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This is the response at node 2 for the cyclic load applied at this node from 0 - 100 Hz.
For ANSYS version lower than 7.0, the 'Variable Viewer' window is not available. Use the
'Define Variables' and 'Store Data' functions under TimeHist Postpro. See the help file for
instructions.
Command File Mode of Solution
The above example was solved using a mixture of the Graphical User Interface (or GUI) and the
command language interface of ANSYS. This problem has also been solved using the ANSYS
command language interface that you may want to browse. Open the .HTML version, copy and paste
the code into Notepad or a similar text editor and save it to your computer. Now go to 'File > Read
input from...' and select the file. A .PDF version is also available for printing.
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