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Introduction to ANSYS
Mechanical
Customer Training Material
Lecture 3

General Preprocessing
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Chapter Overview
In this chapter, using features without the use of the Wizards will be
covered
Topics:
A. Geometry
B. Contact
C. Coordinate Systems
D. Named Selections
E. Workshop 3-1, Contact Control

The capabilities described in this section are generally applicable to
the ANSYS DesignSpace Entra licenses and above and are noted in
the lower-left hand tables
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Introduction
The Outline Tree is the main way of setting up an analysis
The Context Toolbar, Details View, and Graphics Window update,
depending on which Outline Tree branch is selected
Use of the Outline Tree will be emphasized in this chapter
Use of the Outline Tree is
the means by which
users navigate through
the Mechanical GUI.
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A. Geometry Branch
The Geometry branch lists the part(s)
that make up the model.
In Mechanical, there are three types of
bodies which can be analyzed:
Solid bodies are general 3D or 2D
volumes/areas/parts
Surface bodies are only areas
Line bodies are only curves
Each is explained next . . .

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Types of Bodies
Solid bodies are geometrically and spatially 3D or 2D:
3D solids are meshed with higher-order tetrahedral or hexahedral solid elements
with quadratic shape functions.
2D solids are meshed with higher order triangle or quadrilateral solid elements
with quadratic shape functions
The 2D switch must be set on the Project page prior to import
Geometry type cannot be changed from 2D to 3D (or vice versa) after import
Each node has three translational degrees of freedom (DOF) for structural or one
temperature DOF for thermal

3D Solids
2D Solids
Axisymmetric
cross section
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Types of Bodies
Surface bodies are geometrically 2D but spatially 3D:
Surface bodies represent structures which are thin in one dimension (through-
thickness). Thickness is not modeled but supplied as an input value.
Surface bodies are meshed with linear shell elements having six DOF (UX, UY,
UZ, ROTX, ROTY, ROTZ).
Line bodies are geometrically 1D but spatially 3D:
Line bodies represent structures which are thin in two dimensions. The cross-
section is not modeled.
Line bodies are modeled with linear beam elements having six DOF (UX, UY, UZ,
ROTX, ROTY, ROTZ).
Line Body
Surface Body
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Multibody Parts
In general, bodies and parts are the same. In DesignModeler however,
multiple bodies may be grouped into multibody parts.
Multibody parts share common boundaries so nodes are shared at that
interface.
No contact is needed in these situations.

Example:

Common nodes
are shared by
adjacent bodies
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Material Properties
To assign material properties to a body
highlight it and select from the available
properties in the Assignment field :
The only materials appearing in the list
will be materials added using the
Engineering Data application (see
chapter 2).



For surface bodies a thickness needs to
be supplied as well.
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Geometry Worksheet
A summary of bodies and assigned materials is available.
Select Geometry branch and toggle the Worksheet icon.
Toggle between graphics or worksheet via tabs at bottom
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B. Contact
When multiple parts are present, a means of defining the relationship
between parts is needed.
Contact regions define how parts interact with each other.
Without contact or spot welds, parts will not interact with each other:
In structural analyses, contact and spot welds prevent parts from penetrating
through each other and provide a means of load transfer between parts.
In thermal analyses, contact and spot welds allow for heat transfer across parts.
Multibody parts do not require contact or spot welds.
B A
Surface contact elements can be visualized as a skin
covering the regions where contact will occur.
Load
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Contact
When an assembly is imported contact
surfaces are automatically detected
and created:
The proximity of surfaces is used to
detect contact. Tolerance for contact
detection is available in the
Connections branch details.
Contact is also used for 2D geometry.
Contact surfaces are represented by
edges.
Certain license levels allow surface to
edge, edge to edge and mixed
solid/surface contact.




Note, automatic contact should always
be checked and verified before
proceeding with an analysis.
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Contact
Connections can be grouped for convenient contact management.
In the example shown, contact has been grouped relative to various
sub assemblies in the model.
Contact can be auto defined for each group via RMB.
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Solid Body Contact
Contact elements provide the relationship between parts.
Each part maintains a separate mesh. This means that one small part will not
drive mesh density of the entire assembly and/or the user can make parts of
interest have a finer mesh than other parts

Note the non-matching mesh at the
interface between parts.
Mix of hexahedral elements
contacting tetrahedral elements is
possible.
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Solid Body Contact
When a contact region is highlighted in the connections branch, parts are made
translucent for easier viewing.
Selecting a contact region makes non participating bodies translucent.
Contact surfaces are color coded for easy identification.

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Solid Body Contact
Go To utilities allow a more detailed investigation of contact definitions:
Corresponding bodies in tree
Bodies without contact
Parts without contact
Contact regions for selected bodies
Contacts common to selected bodies



Contacts can be quickly renamed to match part names
RMB
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Solid Body Contact
To manually define a contact pair insert a manual contact region and select
and apply contact and target surfaces.
RMB
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Advanced Solid Body Contact
For ANSYS Professional licenses and above,
advanced contact options are available:
Auto detection dimension and slider
Pinball control
Asymmetric contact, contact results tool and
additional formulations will be covered in a later
chapter.
Details for Connections
Details for Contact Regions
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Advanced Solid Body Contact
The Pinball region represents a contact detection zone:
Contact open status is determined by the pinball radius.
Outside pinball: far field
Inside pinball (not touching): near field
Closed status is either sliding or sticking.
The pinball radius may be entered so that bonded contact
is used in gaps.
Pinball radius is displayed as a sphere in the graphics
window.
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Surface Body Contact
Shell contact includes edge-to-face or edge-to-edge
contact:
Shell contact is not turned on by default.
User can turn on detection of face-to-edge or edge-to-edge
contact.
Priority can be set to prevent multiple contact regions in a
given region.

Edge to Surface
Edge to Edge
Edge to Surface
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. . . Mesh Connections
Mesh connections can be used to joint surface
bodies at the mesh that do not share topology.
Must be a multibody part (DM).
Can include gaps/penetration.
Can use automatic or manual creation.
For manual definition:
Master geometry can be faces
or edges.
Slave geometry can only be
edges.
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Spot Weld
Spot welds provide a means of connecting assemblies at discrete points:
Spot weld is defined in the CAD software. Currently, only DesignModeler and
Unigraphics define spot welds supported by Mechanical.
Spot weld pairs
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Contact Worksheet
The Worksheet for the Connections branch provides a summary of
various contact and spot weld definitions:

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C. Coordinate Systems
The Coordinate Systems branch initially contains only the global Cartesian
system.
Coordinate systems can be used for mesh controls, point masses,
directional loads, and results.
Local Coordinate Systems can be created or imported from some CAD systems
(see Mechanical documentation).
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Coordinate Systems
Coordinate Systems (Cartesian or cylindrical) can be
defined by selecting Coordinate System icon from the
Context toolbar.
The CS toolbar becomes available after CS is defined.




Local coordinate systems are defined either by:
Selecting geometry (Associative Coordinate System). The
coordinate system updates if the geometrys location is
updated (not during solution). Its translation and rotation
are geometry dependent.
Specifying coordinates (Non-Associative Coordinate
System). The coordinate system will remain as originally
defined i.e.: it is independent of geometry.
Translate
Rotate Flip
Move Up/Down
Delete
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Coordinate Systems
Coordinate systems can be used from pull-down menus in the Details
view in various applications (examples below) :

Sizing w/ Sphere of
Influence Option
Directional Results
Point Masses
Directional Loads
Directional Displacements
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D. Named Selections
The Named Selection Toolbar provides functionality for grouping together
geometric entities:





Named Selections allow users to group together vertices, edges, surfaces, or
bodies.
Named Selections can be used for defining mesh controls, applying loads and
supports, etc.
Provides an easy method to reselect groups that will be referenced often
Defining contact regions
Scoping results
Etc.
Create Defined Names
Manipulate
Show/Hide
Suppress/Unsuppress
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Defining Named Selections
To create Selections using geometry selection:
Select the vertices, edges, surfaces, or bodies of interest,
then click on the Create Selection Group icon.
Enter a name in the dialog box.
The new group will appear in the Named Selection
Toolbar as well as in the Outline Tree.

Note:
Only one type of entity can be in a particular
Named Selection. For example, vertices and
edges cannot exist in the same Named Selection.
Named Selection groups can be imported from
some CAD systems (see Chapter 10).

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Defining Named Selections
Selections can be created employing various criteria using the
Worksheet method.
Add, remove, filter, etc. to stack criteria for complex selections.
Each selection is generated to complete the operation.
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Defining Named Selections
Example, select a vertex at x,y,z = 97.7, 33, 0:
Using three operations (add, filter, remove),
allows a single vertex selection.
Results in 4 vertices selected
Results in 2 vertices selected
Results in 1 vertex selected
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Using Named Selections
In many detail window fields Named Selections can be referenced
directly:
Example (pressure load):
In the Details view, change Method from Geometry Selection to Named
Selection
Select the Named Selection from the pull-down menu
Mechanical will filter non-applicable types of Named Selections.

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Using Named Selections
Named Selections can be used in other situations where geometry must
be picked:
Select Geometry from the Details view to enter picking mode
Toggle the Named Selection to select from the Toolbar
Select the applicable choice:
Select Items in Group, Add to Current Selection, Remove from Current Selection
Then, click on Apply in the Details view

1
2
3
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Workshop 3.1 Contact Control
Goal:
Investigate several types of contact behavior.
E. Workshop 3.1 Contact Control