Ansys APDL Structural Analysis: Comparing Element Types for Max. Stress

[Damian123]

Hello,

I'm doing structural analysis of honeycomb light weight structures in ansys apdl.. is it possible to mesh and compare element types such as solid, shell and beam elements with respect to max.stress with the same 3D model??

 

[Mech_Engineer]

No it is not possible. Solid elements require 3-D geometry, shell elements require surface geometries in 3-d space (it might be possible to approximate your honeycomb with surfaces), Beam elements require lines (2-D geometry in 3-D space).

I think you're going to need different geometries for each element type.

 

[Damian123]

Thank you for your reply mech engineer.. can u give some examples for it.. so that i can understand more clearly..

 

[Damian123]

like pics, sites r journals.. I am totally new to ansys apdl

 

[Damian123]

Let me b clear.. Is it possible to mesh first picture with solid elements, and second picture model with shell elements.. it's hollow inside

 

[Mech_Engineer]

The solid model in the first picture can be meshed, although it's going to take a pretty dense mesh for accurate mechanical properties. It could be the student version of ANSYS will not provide enough mesh elements for what you're hoping to achieve (I think the student vesion is limited to something like 200,000 nodes).

The second picture is not going to work, one because it isn't the correct format for shell elements, and second because its geometry is significantly different than the first model. If you really want to use shell elements, you need to define a surface plane for evey side in the honeycomb of the first picture.

Here is a link to some simple ANSYS tutorials so that you can see what you're getting yourself into: http://www.mece.uAlberta.ca/tutorials/ansys/