Workshop 13

Unloading Analysis of a Skew Plate

Introduction
You will now conclude the analysis of the plate shown in Figure W13–1. Recall our
analysis includes geometric and material nonlinearity. We previously determined the
plate exceeded the material yield strength and therefore has some plastic deformation.
Since we requested restart output, we can resume the analysis to determine the residual
stress state. In this workshop we will remove the load in order to recover the elastic
deformation; the plastic deformation will remain.

All degrees of freedom at this end are

constrained except along the axis of
the plate.

Figure W13–1 Sketch of the skew plate.

To begin this workshop, open the database containing the skew plate model created
earlier.

Note: In the event you were unable to complete the previous workshop successfully,
accidentally deleted your model database file, etc., a script is provided to generate the
prerequisite model definitions for this workshop. Set your Abaqus/CAE working
directory (File→Set Work Directory) to or open Abaqus/CAE from the skewPlate
directory and run the script ws_intro_skew_nonlin.py by selecting File→Run
Script from the main menu bar. Then proceed with the rest of the workshop.

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus

 W13.2

Adding a Restart model

Copy the model named nl-plastic to a new model named plastic-restart. The
changes required for this model are described next.

Model Attributes
1. In the Model Tree, double-click plastic-restart to edit the attributes for the restart
analysis model. (Alternatively, from the main menu bar, select Model→Edit
Attributes→plastic-restart.)
2. On the Restart tab of the Edit Model Attributes dialog box, click the checkbox
to indicate the (previous) job where the restart data was saved (recall this job was
named PlSkewPlate). Also indicate the step from which to restart the analysis
(recall this step was named Apply Pressure) and that the restart analysis will
commence from the end of the step.

Step definition
1. In the Model Tree, double-click Steps to add a new step after the Apply
Pressure step. Name the step Unload.
2. In the Basic tabbed page of the Edit Step dialog box, Nlgeom should already be
on to include geometric nonlinearity effects. Set the time period for the step to 1.
As before, in the Incrementation tabbed page, set the initial increment size to
0.1.

Loads
1. Use the Load Manager to deactivate the pressure load in the step named Unload.

Job definition
1. Create a new job named PlSkewPlate-unload using the model plastic-restart
and enter the following job description: Unload Plastic Skew Plate. Note
that the job type is set to Restart. Remember to save your model database file.
2. Submit the job for analysis, and monitor the solution progress. Correct any
modeling errors, and investigate the source of any warning messages.

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus

 W13.3

Postprocessing
In the Visualization module, contour the U3 displacement component in the plate:
1. Click the Plot Contours tool in the toolbox.
2. From the list of variable types on the left side of the Field Output toolbar, select
Primary (if it is not already selected).
3. From the list of available output variables in the center of the toolbar, select
output variable U (spatial displacement at nodes).
4. From the list of available components and invariants on the right side of the Field
Output toolbar, select U3.
5. Compare to the results at the end of the Apply Pressure step.
Note that in this output database file, the results for frame 0 correspond to the
results at the end of the Apply Pressure step (use the Frame Selector to
switch to a different frame).
The difference between the final state of the model and its initial state is due to
the elastic springback that has occurred. The deformation that remains is
permanent and unrecoverable.

Save the model database as skew.cae.

© Dassault Systèmes, 2020 Introduction to Abaqus