Workshop 01.

1 – Basic
Sandwich Panel

Introduction to
ANSYS Composite PrepPost
Release 2020 R1

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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Introduction
• In this workshop, we will model a sandwich panel.

• With ACP’s capabilities, you can model structures that are far more complex than
this one in terms of geometry and lay-up.

• Nonetheless, this basic, flat part with a uniform thickness is a good starting point.

• We will go through the complete process of modeling, solving & post-processing.

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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Lay-up Information
• The sandwich panel is 300 mm x 300 mm x 16.6 mm
• It consists of the following lay-up:
• +/- 45 deg UD fabric
• 90 deg UD fabric
• +/- 45 deg UD fabric
• 15 mm foam core Note
Results shown in these workshop
• 3x 90 deg UD fabric instructions may differ from the
results displayed in your model.
• The panel is clamped on all sides.
• It is subjected to a uniform pressure of 0.1 MPa.
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Start ANSYS Workbench and Open Archive

1
2
1. Start ANSYS Workbench and open the archive
Basic_Sandwich_Panel_FROM_START_<Release>.wbpz
2. Save the Workbench project

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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Engineering Data 2
1. Edit Engineering Data (Right mouse button on Engineering Data → Edit)

1 2. Select Engineering Data Sources

3. Select Composite Materials in the menu among the Engineering Data
Sources

Composite materials have to be defined in ANSYS Workbench

Engineering Data
There are two possibilities:
(A) Import preconfigured materials from the Composite
3
Materials catalog
(B) Create new materials

In this example, you create new materials as shown in the

following slides.
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Engineering Data
1. Create a new unidirectional (regular) material by drag and dropping the following
properties from the Toolbox:

Hint
Uncheck the filter button to
display all properties in the
1
toolbox

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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Engineering Data
1. Define also a core material! Be aware
of the Ply Type.

1
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

11 2
1. Update Model (Right mouse button on Model → Refresh)
2. Open ACP (Right mouse button on Setup → Edit)

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1. Basic Sandwich Panel
Define Fabrics Properties in ACP 2
In ACP further material data have to be defined.
1. Right click on Fabrics and select Create Fabric
Create two new Fabrics with the defined materials:
2
2. Carbon UD with 0.2 mm thickness,
3. Foam core with 15 mm thickness. 4
4. Select OK after the definition of each fabric
3
1 3
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel
Define Stackups Properties in ACP
1. Right click on Stackups and select Create Stackup.
A Stackup is a multiaxial reinforcement tape consisting of
several plies placed at different orientations. These layers
are then typically stitchbonded to form a fabric. also called
non-crimp fabric (NCF). Check slide 17 for the effects of
fabrics selection of ply resolution

2. Define a new -45/+45 Stackup with the UD Carbon. 2

2
1
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Examine Stackups Properties in ACP

1
1.Change to the Analysis tab,
a. select Layup level and text labels for a lay-up representation
plot, and
b. select the elastic properties of the stackup for a polar
properties plot.
2.Select apply to generate stack up information and Polar
Properties Plot
3.Press OK to leave the stackup window

3 2
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel
Define Sub Laminates Properties in ACP A sub laminate groups fabrics and
stackups together. This speeds up
1.Right click on Sub Laminates and select Create Sub Laminate. modeling for recurring laminates!
2.Combine the Biax and UD together into one sub laminate.
3.Plot the elastic properties of the sub laminate like before

3
2
1
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Two important aspects in the modeling of composites are orientation and reference
direction. The orientation defines what side of the mesh I am building up from. Or in other
words, where is the mold surface? The reference direction sets the in-plane zero degree
direction across the part. If I apply a +45 degree patch to a part I need to know what the
reference direction is.
ACP uses the concept of Oriented Selection Sets (OSS) and Rosettes to handle these aspects.

Rosette

Orientation of the
Oriented Selection Set

Reference Direction of
the Oriented Selection Set

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1. Basic Sandwich Panel Click on an element
or node of the
model.
Create Rosettes in ACP
1. Right click on Rosette and select Create Rosette

2 CTRL +
multiple
elements
selections

1 2
2. Specify Origin (location of the rosette) and Direction 1 and 2 (x and y directions of the
rosette). You can directly type in the GUI or click on an element or node to select the
origin. Holding CTRL for multiple element selections allow to select a direction vector
connecting the following two element centroids.
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

OSS in ACP
The Oriented Selection Set is used to define the lay-up. The orientation
direction of the OSS specifies the stacking direction of a Modeling Ply
and the reference directions is used to specify the Ply Angle. The
concept of the OSS creates independency from element properties
such as element normal and element coordinate systems. Mesh and
element independency is what makes ACP such a powerful and flexible
tool.
Info
(1) Toggle the button in the toolbar and select the OSS to check the
elements normal

(2) The rosette of an OSS defines the material reference (0°) direction.
Toggle the button to visualize the reference direction of the selected
OSS.
(Click the Update button if no orientation is displayed.)

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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Create an Oriented Selection Set in ACP OSS Name

2 Click on an element
or node of the
model.

1. Create an Oriented Selection Set (please refer to the

lectures for more details on OSS):

Click on the desired

Element Set

1
2. Select the properties of the Oriented Selection Set
shown here: Click on the used Rosette used to set the
reference direction
16 © 2019 ANSYS, Inc.
1. Basic Sandwich Panel For creating a ply you must select an Oriented
Element Set, the Ply Material, the Ply Angle and
the number of Layers. Please update the ACP
model to visualize the effect on the model after
Create Plies in ACP each ply definition.
1. Create Ply Group for the entire sandwich:
2. Create the Modeling Ply for the bottom of the sandwich (Sublaminate and a Ply angle of 0°)
3. Create the Modeling Ply for the core (Fabric Core and a Ply angle of 0°)
4. Create the Modeling Ply for the top of the sandwich (Fabric UD_T700_200gsm and a Ply angle of
90°. Set Number of Layers to 3)

1 sublaminate consisting
of stackup, fabic, stackup 1 Core fabric 3-times same UD fabric

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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

From Materials to Plies in ACP

Material Level Ply Level Ply Resolution
1 sublaminate consisting
of stackup, fabric, stackup Modeling Ply (MP)
Modeling resolution
Inputs:
Oriented Selection Set
Ply Material: fabric, stackup,
sublaminate
Ply angle
Number of Layers

1 Core fabric
Production Ply (PP)
Manufacturing resolution
3-times same UD fabric
Analysis Ply (AP)
Simulation resolution
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1. Add a Static Structural component to the existing analysis:

1
1
2
3
2. Update the Model of Static Structural
3. Edit the Setup of Static Structural
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Add Boundary Conditions in Mechanical

1. Add support to edges
2. Add applied load to face 12
12
1
2
3. Return to Workbench Project Schematic and update the whole project
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Post-Processing in Mechanical

1. Create the total deformation plot of the sandwich panel

1
1
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In Ansys Workbench there are two methods to post-process results for composites
materials: directly into Mechanical by adding a Composite Failure Tool or by adding an ACP
(Post) cell into the project schematic

In the last part of this workshop we cover post-processing through ACP (Post), while
mechanical post-processing is covered in later workshops

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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Return to Workbench and add ACP (Post) to the project:

1. Drag and Drop an ACP (Post) system over the ACP (Pre) system
2. Drag and Drop Solution of Static Structural to Results of ACP (Post)

2
1

3. Update Results of ACP (Post) and double click on Results to open ACP
3
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Post-Processing in ACP
1. Update project
1
2. Select Solution and Create a deformation plot to visualize deformations
3. Set the deformation scale in the toolbar, toggle mesh in the toolbar and visualize the plot

2 3 3
2
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Create Failure Definitions in ACP

1. Right Click on Definitions and choose Create Failure Criteria (select Max Stress, Tsai-Wu, Core Failure)

1
In this step a combined Failure Criteria is configured to
create an overall failure plot of the composite structure.
For the two materials, the stress limits were defined in
the Engineering Data at the beginning of this workshop.
In general make sure material models contain the
appropriate failure parameters.

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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Create Failure Plots in ACP

In this step a combined Failure Criteria is configured to
create an overall failure plot of the composite structure.
For the two materials, the stress limits were defined in
1. Right Click on Solution 1 and select Create Failure the Engineering Data at the beginning of this workshop.

2. All_Elements is the default selection in Data Scope,

to change point to a different element set in the tree
3. Right Click on Failure Criteria Definition and select
FailureCriteria.1 from the scroll down menu
4. Select Show Critical Failure Mode and Show Critical
2
Layer
43
1
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Post-Processing in ACP
1. Remove the deformation scale from the solution
1
2. Update the model to see the overall failure plot:
• The contour plot shows the maximum inverse reserve
factor of each element (through all layers, all selected
2
failure criteria and integration points)
• The text plot indicates the critical layer and the critical
failure mode.

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1. Basic Sandwich Panel
Select the Analysis Plies of the Sampling Point to
visualize the stress distribution of a single ply.
Stress Plot in ACP
1. Right click on Solution 1 and select Create Stress
2. Insert a ply-wise stress plot for the transverse stresses s2, select the bottom of the shell elements
3. Ply-wise plots only show results when a ply is selected.

2 3
1
1 2

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 Sampling points can be used to investigate through
1. Basic Sandwich Panel thickness result at a point. The through-the-thickness
distribution of strains, stresses or failure results can be

1
visualized in the Analysis tab of the Sampling Point.

Examine Through-Thickness Solution in ACP

1. Create a Sampling Point and select the element of interest.

2
1

2. Change to the Analysis Tab of the Sampling Point to configure the

through-the-thickness post-processing plot
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1. Basic Sandwich Panel

Summary

• In this workshop, you have modeled and analyze a most basic structure, a sandwich panel

• In the process you should have learnt about …

• … how ACP handles lay-up orientations and reference directions (OSS)

• … the different hierarchies of plies (Modeling, Production & Analysis Plies)

• … how to set up a combined failure criteria definition

• … global failure plots

• … through-the-thickness analysis at a single point (Sampling Point)

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