Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

2. Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

2.1 Introduction
In this example, you will explore a buckling analysis of a simple bracket subject to a
concentrated cantilevered load. The bracket, although solid, will be idealized as a thin shell
finite element model, fixed at the base and loaded at the tip.

You will work through the entire NEi Nastran analysis process. To begin, you will create the
materials and properties followed by the geometry. Next you will mesh the model and then
apply the loads and contraints. Finally, you will analyze the model using the NEi Nastran Solver
and review the post-processing results.

2.2 Pre-Process the Model

Before building the model geometry, you will create a material with the appropriate properties
and create properties for each element used.

Because the plate has uniform thickness, only a two-dimensional representation is needed to
model the plate.

You will prepare a meshed model of the plate by creating two surfaces that will form a wedge.
Using these surfaces you will mesh your geometry to create elements for analysis.

2.2.1 Define the Material Properties

Open Femap. From the Femap Main Menu select Model then choose Material….

In the Define Isotropic Material dialog box enter the following values into their respective
fields:

ID 200
Title Steel (Example 2)
Young's Modulus, E 3e7
Poisson’s Ratio nu 0.3
Mass Density 7.33145E-4

Select OK. When the Define Isotropic Material dialog box appears again, choose Cancel
because this model has only one material.

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-1

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

2.2.2 Define Element Properties

This model will be meshed with plate (shell) elements. But first, you will define the properties of
these elements.

From the Femap Main Menu select Model then choose Property…. In the Define Property –
PLATE Element Type dialog box click the Elem/Property Type… button. The Element /
Property Type dialog box appears. Select Plate and verify that all other settings are the same
as illustrated below.

Select OK. In the Define Property – PLATE Element Type dialog box, fill the following values
into their respective fields:

ID 20
Title Steel Plate
Thickness, Tavg or T1 0.1

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-2

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

Click the down arrow in the Material box and select 200..Steel (Example 2). Select OK. The
Define Property – PLATE Element Type dialog box will re-appear. Click Cancel because
there are no further element types to define.

2.2.3 Create the Geometry and Mesh the Model

The first step in building the meshed model is to create a surface.

From the Femap Main Menu select Geometry then choose Surface and Corners…. The
Locate – Enter First Corner of Surface dialog box appears. Enter the following values.

Locate – Enter First Corner of Surface: Then, click

X= 0 Y= 0 Z= 0
enter: OK.

Locate – Second First Corner of Surface: Then, click

X= 1.5 Y= 0 Z= 0
enter: OK.

Locate – Enter Third Corner of Surface: Then, click

X= .5 Y= 0 Z= 4
enter: OK.

Locate – Enter Fourth Corner of Surface: Then, click

X= 0 Y= 0 Z= 4
enter: OK.

When the Locate – Enter First Corner of Surface dialog box appears, enter the following
values to make the second surface of the wedge.

Locate – Enter First Corner of Surface: Then, click

X= 0 Y= 0 Z= 0
enter: OK.

Locate – Second First Corner of Surface: Then, click

X= 0 Y= 2 Z= 0
enter: OK.

Locate – Enter Third Corner of Surface: Then, click

X= 0 Y= .5 Z= 4
enter: OK.

Locate – Enter Fourth Corner of Surface: Then, click

X= 0 Y= 0 Z= 4
enter: OK.

When the Locate – Enter First Corner of Surface dialog box appears again, click Cancel.

To center the image in the workspace, press Ctrl+A. Ctrl+A is a Femap shortcut for selecting
View, then, Autoscale, and then, Visible. Your model should look like the one shown below.

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-3

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

The next step is to mesh the two surfaces you have created.

From the Femap Main Menu select Mesh then choose Mesh Control and Size On Surface….
The Entity Selection – Select Surface(s) to Set Mesh Size dialog box appears. Left-click the
two surfaces (or push the Select All button since we are meshing all the surfaces) and then
click OK.

In the Automatic Mesh Sizing dialog box, enter 0.3 in the Number of Elements field and
check that all other settings are as illustrated below.

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-4

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

Click OK, and then Cancel in the Automatic Mesh Sizing dialog box.

On the Femap Main Menu select Mesh then choose Geometry and Surface…. Click Select
All and then click OK in the Entity Selection – Select Surfaces to Mesh dialog box. The
Automesh Surfaces dialog box will appear. Click the down arrow in the Property field, and
select 20..Steel plate. All settings should appear as below.

Your model should now appear as the one below.

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-5

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

2.2.4 Apply the Constraints

The bracket is firmly supported at the large edge. Since most parts, and systems of parts, can
be constrained in many ways, NEi Nastran uses sets to manage constraints. You will now
create the constraint set, and then you will fix all of the nodes at the base of the model.

From the Femap Main Menu select Model then choose Constraint and Nodal…. The New
Constraint Set dialog box appears. In the Title field type Fixed Edge and click OK.

The Entity Selection – Enter Node(s) to Select dialog box appears. Pick all of the nodes at
the large end of the model. A quicker way to do this would be to click Pick^ and from the drop-
down menu, select Box. (When selecting nodes the normal way, hold the Shift key and draw a
box around the constrained nodes. That performs the same action as Pick^ and then Box.)

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-6

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

In the Create Nodal Constraints/DOF dialog box, click the Fixed button, then OK. Click
Cancel when the Entity Selection – Enter Node(s) to Select dialog box reapears. The small
triangles and the “123456” at each perimeter node indicate that those nodes have been
constrained from translating in three axes and from rotating about three axes.

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-7

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

2.2.5 Apply the Load

The bracket has a 100 pound load hanging from the free end. As mentioned before, you will
first create a load set, and then apply the load to the end. In a buckling analysis, the actual
loading of the part is applied, and the solver returns a buckling eigenvalue. The eigenvalue is
multiplied by the applied load to give the critical buckling load.

You will apply the 100 pound load to the model in the positive Y-direction. From the Femap
Main Menu select Model then choose Load and Nodal…. The New Load Set dialog box
appears. In the Title field type 100 lbs and click OK.

The Entity Selection – Enter Node(s) to Select dialog box appears. Pick the node at the
opposite end on the constraint where the two surfaces meet and then click OK. (See the figure
below.)

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-8

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

Now the Create Loads on Nodes dialog box appears. Notice how the default load is force.
Enter in the value 100 for FY.

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-9

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

Click OK, and then Cancel when the Entity Selection – Enter Node(s) to Select dialog box
reappears.

Your model should now look like this:

Save the model by selecting File and then Save As… from the Femap Main Menu. Enter
Example Problem 2 for the filename.

2.3 Run the Analysis

From the Femap Main Menu select Model and then choose Analysis…. In the Analysis Set
Manager dialog box click New to create a new analysis.

In the Analysis Set dialog box enter Buckling for the Title. For the Analysis Program, check
to make sure it is 31..NEiNastran, and for Analysis Type choose 7..Buckling.

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-10

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

Click OK.

Now click Analyze. Notice that the analysis set manager displays all analysis sets defined in
the model, and the sections that make up the input file for the solver. Clicking on a plus sign will
expand the tree and display individual options that can be edited by double-clicking on an
option. For this analysis, you will use the default values for these options.

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-11

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

Enter in Example Problem 2 for the File name and click Write to begin the analysis. The NEi
Nastran Editor opens and analysis data scrolls in the Analysis view. When the analysis is
complete, the NEi Nastran Editor displays the Errors/Warnings view, and the NEi Nastran
Termination Status dialog box appears telling you that the analysis is complete with no errors
or warnings. You can view the Result Summary File by clicking the Result Summary tab at the
bottom of the Editor View. Next, click Continue and the NEi Nastran output results are written
to Femap for post-processing.

2.4 Post-Process the Results

From the Femap Main Menu select View then choose Select… (or push F5 as a shortcut). In
the View Select dialog box click the Deform radio button (in the Deformed Style box), and
click the Contour radio button (in the Contour Style box). These selections instruct Femap to
plot your model using the deformation and color contour features.

Click Deformed and Contour Data…, and the Select PostProcessing Data dialog box opens.
In the Output Vectors box look under the Deformation field and click on the drop-down menu,
then select 1..Total Translation. In the Contour field, click on the drop-down menu and select
1..Total Translation again. These two settings instruct Femap to use the displacements
calculated by NEi Nastran to plot the buckling shape and critical buckling factor by the
deformation and by the color contours.

Click on the drop-down menu in the Output Set box. You can view the critical buckling factor
calculated by NEi Nastran. Select 2..MODE 1, EIGV= 35.381901 to have Femap display the
critical buckling factor.

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-12

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

Click OK. Click OK again in the View Select dialog box. Femap will plot the buckled shape of
the model in the workspace. You should see the following image.

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-13

 Problem Two: Buckling Analysis of a Bracket

To see the deformation of the plate you will need to rotate the model. Using the Femap icons
on the View Toolbar (below the Main Menu), you can rotate, zoom, and pan to get a better view
of the shape. Note that the deformation shown in the plot is exaggerated.

You can animate the model by clicking the Femap Animate icon (located in the PostProcessing
Toolbar). To stop the animation, click the Deformed icon.

NOTE: The set value is the eigenvalue and critical buckling factor for a buckling analysis. In
this case, the part would buckle at a load 35.38 times higher than the applied load.

This is the end of the example. Save your model.

NEi Nastran Version 10.1 Tutorial 2-14