Aircraft Structural Integrity
ANSYS Submodelling
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Learning Outcomes
Intro
These slides are to take you into a little more detail regarding more
involved modelling strategies to extend the usability of the software.
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Intro
Recap
Last week we delved a little deeper into the software and started to
consider local behaviour and the presence of singularities.
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Intro
Submodelling
In this session we will start to consider how to assess more complex
structures, for any kind of simulation.
A. Submodelling Overview
B. Submodelling Procedure
C. Tutorial / Workshop Task - Submodelling
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Overview
We have incredibly capable CAD packages, and are now able to input
more (and more accurate) geometry than ever before into the models.
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Overview
Current trends in simulation show an increased need for the
computation of large, complicated models
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Overview
We have the option of reducing this
geometry (adding remote BCs etc.) but
how do we know we are capturing the
inputs correctly?
And where do we curtail the model?
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Overview
And yet if we leave the geometry undisturbed, we are quickly
running into hundreds of thousands, if not millions of elements.
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Overview
You may then discover particular ROIs that require further analysis.
But how do you refine these specific areas when you already have so
many elements?
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Overview
Local meshing control may be the answer, but there are better(?)
tools available to us.
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Overview
Submodelling is one option. This is proposed by Ansys to be a
‘reduction technique‘ – which they mainly promote to increase the
speed of solutions and permit faster design variations.
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Process
Normally a geometric or mesh-based function of FEA. We will start
from a coarse solution and increase accuracy only within a ROI.
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Process
As discussed in the singularity slides, the coarse model can often
provide us with accurate deformations but will equally often have
inaccurate stress and strain information.
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Process
The more refined model(s) produced during submodelling can then
provide us with more accurate stresses within the ROI(s)
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Process
In order for this to function, we need to undertake ‘results mapping’
(displacements) from the coarse to the fine solution.
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Process
Solving two models can
be faster than solving a
very detailed one
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Uses
From basic solid to finer solid...
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Uses
From solid, to basic shell (find deformation), to finer solid (stresses)...
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Uses
From solid, to basic shell (find deformation), to finer solid (stresses)...
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Procedure
Submodeling is available for structural and thermal analysis types with
solid geometry.
One of the key concepts
in submodeling is the
designation of the “cut
boundaries” defining the
submodel.
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Procedure
The displacements from the coarse model are mapped to the cut
boundary locations on the submodel from the corresponding locations
on the full model.
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Procedure
Be careful!
if the cut boundaries are too close to the stress concentrations the
accuracy of the submodel can be degraded.
A results comparison can be used to verify the cut boundary location.
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Procedure
First!
Solve your global model before
starting to build a submodel
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Procedure
Create a new standalone Static Structural
model
Connect the solution from the full model to
the setup of the sub model
open the sub model geometry and import
your .stl file
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Procedure
Place cut boundaries in your model to
define the region you want to sub model
Insert a new plane and offset it to coincide
with the cut you want
Slice based on the cut
Suppress all but the sub model bodies and
save as an .stp
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Procedure
Open up the model and check you have the
correct region.
Apply a mesh, remembering that this is
going to require refinement and logging as
before.
Note you now have a submodelling option
in Static Structural
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Procedure
Right click the submodelling button and
insert a cut boundary constraint
Select all the cut faces from your submodel
that need to tie up with the full model
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Procedure
Click the import loads icon and Ansys
should generate the load case from the
remote displacements in your original
model
The model is now ready to solve and refine
to improve your results
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Aircraft Structural Integrity
Submodelling
Checklist
How do the results compare to your original
model?
Is the stress distribution reasonable?
Is it converged?
What are the key regions of interest and
what are the values there?
Could you further reduce the geometry?
Aircraft Structural Integrity
