Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Tut - 9 Nonlinear Buckling Analysis of A Cylinder
Tut - 9 Nonlinear Buckling Analysis of A Cylinder
Element software.
All DIMENSIONS
IN MILLIMETRES
.3
Instruction Convention:
Utility Menu options will be shown in UPPERCASE.
Main Menu options will be shown in Bold.
Delete Volumes:
Preprocessor → Modelling → Delete → Volumes → Pick all
Mesh Areas:
PLOT / Areas
Preprocessor → Meshing → MeshTool → The MeshTool window will pop up. From the
MeshTool window change the drop down box from Volumes to Areas and select Quad for the
shape → Click the Mesh button → Pick both sides of the cylinder (not the two circular ends).
Click OK. The finite element mesh should now be drawn.
In this procedure a default mesh size is selected. To set your own element size in the MeshTool:
Global → SET and type in an appropriate Element Edge Length. However, here the “Refine”
works well.
Refine Mesh:
Preprocessor → Meshing → MeshTool → Refine → Pick all
A better sized mesh should result.
Close the MeshTool window. (It may be behind the active window).
If an eigenbuckling analysis has not yet been carried out, it must now be done (see Ex 9). It is
assumed that this has been done and that the eigenbuckling predicts buckling failure at a pressure
of 1.2 MPa. The pressure applied for the nonlinear buckling analysis must be considerably
greater than the eigenbuckling prediction, say 10 times this.
From the Time Control window, ensure Automatic Time Stepping is ON.
Ensure Number of Substeps (radio button) is ON
Enter 20 as the number of substeps. This will set the initial substep to 1→ 20 of the total load.
Enter 1000 as the “max no. of substeps”. This will stop the program if the solution does not
converge.
Enter 1 as the “min no. of substeps”.
From the Write Items to Results File window, ensure All Solution Items radio button is selected.
From the Frequency window, select Write Every Substep
Choose Nonlinear from the top of the Solutions Control menu tab.
In the Nonlinear Options window, ensure Line search is ON
In the Equilibrium Iterations window, delete the words “Program Chosen”, and set the Max
number of iterations to 1000. Click Ok
Viewing the stresses (these are not relevant for nonlinear buckling analysis):
PLOT RESULTS → CONTOUR PLOT → NODAL SOLUTION → STRESS → 1st Principal
and Select Def Shape Only → OK
To plot the graph. Set the Nodal Disp to be the x-Axis. This is a radio button towards the right hand
end of the menu.
Highlight the top line, which is the Pressure Load in the range 0.05 – 1.0. This will be the y-Axis.
Click the Graph Data icon.
Note: Do not be surprised if the nonlinear buckling analysis predictions differ significantly from
eigenbuckling predictions.