INTRODUCTIONSome Basic ConceptsThefiniteelement method(FEM),
orfiniteelement analysis(FEA), isbasedontheideaofbuilding a
complicated object with simple blocks, or, diiding a complicated
object into smallerand manageable pieces!Why FEA?"omputers hae
reolutioni#ed the practice of engineering! $esign of a product that
used to bedonebytedious handdrawings has
beenreplacedbycomputer%aideddesign("A$) usingcomputer graphics!
Analysis of a design used to be done by hand calculations and many
of thetesting hae been replaced by computer simulations using
computer%aided engineering ("AE)software! Together, "A$, "AE, and
computer%aided manufacturing ("AM) hae dramaticallychanged the
landscape of engineering! Among all the computational tools for
"AE, the FEM is the most widely applied method or oneof the most
powerful modern &calculators' aailable for engineering students
and professionals!FEA proides a way of irtually testing a product
design! (t helps users understand their designsandimplement
appropriate designchanges earlyinthe product deelopment process!
Theadoption of FEA in the design cycle is drien by market pressure
since it brings many benefitsthat will
helpcompaniesmakebetterproductswithreduceddeelopment
costsandtime%to%market!Finite Element Applications in
EngineeringThe FEM can be applied in soling the mathematical models
of many engineering problems,from stress analysis of truss and
frame structures or complicated machines, to dynamic responsesof
automobiles, trains, or airplanes under different mechanical,
thermal, or electromagneticloading! There are numerous finite
element applications in industries, ranging from
automotie,aerospace, defense, consumer products, and industrial
e)uipment to energy, transportation andconstruction, as shown by
some e*amples in Table! The applications of the FEA hae also
beene*tendedtomaterialsscience, biomedical engineering, geophysics,
andmanyotheremergingfields in recent years!FEA ith ANSYS
Workbench+er the last few decades, many commercial programs hae
become aailable for conducting theFEA! Among a comprehensie range
of finite element simulation solutions proided by
leading"AEcompanies,ANSYSWorkbenchis a user%friendly
platformdesigned to seamlesslyintegrateANSYS, Inc.,s suite of
adanced engineering simulation technology! (t offersbidirectional
connection to major "A$ systems! The Workbench enironment is geared
towardimproing productiity and ease of use among engineering teams!
(t has eoled as anindispensible tool for product deelopment at a
growing number of companies, findingapplications in many dierse
engineering fieldsA !eneral "roce#$re %or FEATo conduct an FEA, the
following procedure is re)uired in general- $iide the "A$.geometric
model into pieces to create a &mesh' (a collection of
elementswith nodes) $escribe the behaior of the physical )uantities
on each element! "onnect (assemble) the elements at the nodes to
forman appro*imate systemofe)uations for the entire model! Apply
loads and boundary conditions (e!g!, to preent the model from
moing)! /olethesystemof e)uations inolingunknown)uantities at
thenodes (e!g!, thedisplacements)! "alculate the desired )uantities
(e!g!, strains and stresses) at elements or nodes!(n commercial FEA
software, this procedure is typically rearranged into the following
phases- 0reprocessing (build FEMmodels, define element properties,
and apply loads andconstraints) FEA soler (assemble and sole the
FEM system of e)uations, calculate element results) 0ostprocessing
(sort and display the results)O&er&ie o% ANSYS
WorkbenchANSYS Workbench is a simulation platform that enables
users to model and sole a wide range
ofengineeringproblemsusingtheFEA! (t
proidesaccesstotheANSYSfamilyofdesignandanalysis modules in an
integrated simulation enironment! This section gies a brief oeriew
ofthe differentelementsintheANSYSWorkbenchsimulationenironmentor
the graphical%userinterface (12()! 3eaders
arereferredtoANSYSWorkbenchuser,sguidefor more
detailedinformation!The User Inter%aceTheWorkbench interface is
composed primarily of a Toolboxregion and a Project
Schematicregion! The main use of the two regions is described
ne*t!Figure: ANSYS Workbench user interface!The Tool'o(The Toolbox
contains the following four groups of systems-Analysis Systems:
0redefined analysis templates to be used to build your project,
including staticstructural, steady%state thermal, transient
thermal, fluid flow, modal, shape optimi#ation, linearbuckling, and
many others!Component Systems:"omponent applications that can be
used to build or e*pand an analysissystem, including geometry
import, engineering data, mesh, postprocessing, and others!Custom
Systems: "oupled%field analysis systems such as fluid solid
interaction, prestress modal,thermal%stress, and
others!DesignExploration:0arametricoptimi#ationstudiessuchasresponsesurfaceoptimi#ation,parameters
correlation, si* sigma analysis, and others!The "ro)ect SchematicA
project schematic, that is, a graphical representation of the
workflow, can be built by draggingpredefined analysis templates or
other components from the Toolbox and dropping them into theProject
Schematic window! &$rag' here means to moe the mouse while
holding down the leftmouse button, and &drop' means to release
the mouse button! To build a project for static structural
analysis, for instance, drag the Static
StructuraltemplatefromtheToolboxanddropit intotherectangularbo*that
appearsintheProject Schematicwindow! A standalone analysis system
that contains the components needed for static structuralanalysis
is addedtotheproject schematicas showninFig! Thesystemconsists of
seenindiidual components called cells!Alternatiely, a standalone
analysis can be created by double%clicking!For e*ample,double%click
the SteadyState Thermal template from the Toolbox, and an
independentFigure: !e"inin# $tandalone analy$i$ $y$tem$ in the
%roject $chematic: &a' a $tandalone $y$tem(&b' t)o
inde%endent $tandalone $y$tem$( &c' mo*in# a $y$tem in a
to%bottom con"i#uration( and&d' mo*in# a $y$tem in a $ideby$ide
con"i#uration.SteadyStateThermalsystemwill beplacedinthedefault
locationbelowthee*istingStaticStructural system!A system can be
moed around another system in the project schematic! To moe a
system, clickon the header cell (i!e!, the cell titled SteadyState
Thermal for the thermal system) and drag it toanewplace!
+nceyoudragtheheadercell, dashedrectanglesappear
forthepossiblenewlocations to drop the system! This is illustrated
in Fig c and d for two systems with initial top4bottom and
side%by%side configurations, respectiely! To delete a system, click
on the down arrow button at the upper left corner of the system
fromthe Project Schematic window, and then choose !elete from the
drop%down conte*t menu!(n somecases, a project may contain two or
more analysis systems that share data! For e*ample,
adownstreammodal analysismayusethesamematerial, geometry, andmodel
datafromtheprecedingstructural analysis! Tobuildsuchaproject,
createastandalonesystemforStaticStructuralanalysis! Then, drag the
+odalanalysis template from the Toolbox and drop it
ontothe+odelcell oftheStaticStructuralsystem!
(mmediatelybeforethesubse)uent systemisdropped, bounding bo*es will
appear on the ,n#ineerin# !ata, -eometry, and +odel cells of
thefirst system, asshowninFiga!Afterthesystemisreleased, aproject
includingtwolinkedsystems is created, as shown in Fig b, where the
linked cells indicate data sharing at the+odeland aboe
leels!Figure:!e"inin# linked analy$i$ $y$tem$ in the %roject
$chematic: &a' dro%%in# the $econd&$ub$e.uent' $y$tem onto
the +odel cell o" the "ir$t $y$tem to $hare data at the model and
abo*ele*el$( &b' t)o $y$tem$ that are linked.Wor*ing ith
Cells"ells arecomponents that makeupananalysis system!
5oumaylaunchanapplicationbydouble%clicking a cell! To initiate an
action other than the default action, right%click on a cell
toiewitsconte*t menuoptions! Thefollowinglist comprises thetypes of
cells aailableinANSYS Workbench and their intended functions-
Engineering Data: $efine or edit material models to be used in an
analysis!Geometry: "reate, import, or edit the geometry model used
for analysis!o!el"esh: Assign material, define coordinate system,
and generate mesh for the model!Setup: Apply loads, boundary
conditions, and configure the analysis settings!Solution: Access
the model solution or share solution data with other downstream
systems!#esults: (ndicate the results aailability and status (also
referred to as postprocessing)!As thedataflows throughasystem,
acell,sstatecan)uicklychange!ANSYSWorkbenchproides a state
indicator icon placed on the right side of the cell! Table
describes the indicatoricons and the arious cell states aailable in
ANSYS Workbench! For more information, pleaserefer to ANSYS
Workbench user,s guide!The +en$ BarThemenubar isthehori#ontal
baranchoredat thetopoftheWorkbenchuser interface! (tproides access
to the following functions-File enu: "reate a new project, open an
e*isting project, sae the current project, and so on!$ie% enu:
"ontrol the window.workspace layout, customi#e the toolbo*, and so
on!&ools enu: 2pdate the project and set the license
preferences and other user options!'nits enu: /elect the unit
system and specify unit display options!(elp enu: 1et help for
ANSYS Workbench!
