MAE 656 - Advanced Computer Aided Design

05. Shells and Membranes Doc 04

Shell Laminates

Introduction
Shell structures can be made of just one material or can combine several materials along its thickness.

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Introduction
Ansys Workbench (in its version 13) is only prepared to work with a single material shell. This is a big drawback as many shells are made of laminate materials. Therefore, if we want to define a laminate, we have to insert APLD commands in the Mechanical module. We will have to interact on the Geometry and on the Static Structural sections.
Note: Although we will only use APLD commands to define laminate elements, these can be used for many other applications, being possible to customize Ansys Workbench as much as wanted.

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Definition of the Laminate

In the mechanical module, in the geometry section, are displayed all surface elements that have been defined to simulate the structural component. It is possible to insert command lines under each one of them. In these command lines we will define the laminate.

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Definition of the Laminate

The laminate definition is divided in three blocks: Definition of the shell properties Definition of the materials included in the laminate Definition of the laminate layup The first line that has to be added in the command file is: /prep7 This line calls the preprocessor

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Shell Properties
The shell properties are defined as follows:
et, matid, 181 keyopt,matid,1,0 keyopt,matid,3,2 keyopt,matid,8,1
!Specifies the element type, shell 181 !Bending and membrane stiffness (default) !Use full integration !Store data of all layers

A detailed definition of all these options can be found in ANSYS manual, in sections:
(// Command Reference // VI. E Commands // ET) (// Element Reference // I. Element Library // SHELL181)

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Material Properties
The first thing that is recommended to do when defining the material properties is to erase all data that may be generated in previous steps:
mpdel, all, 11 tbdel, all, 11
!Delete all assigned prop. for material 11 !Delete all previously assigned tabular data

In this case, the material defined is number eleven. It is recommended to use materials with high numeration to avoid writing the data over materials previously assigned in the Engineering Data section.

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Material Properties
Afterwards we will define all material props:
MP, MP, MP, MP, MP, MP, MP, MP, MP, EX, EY, EZ, GXY, GYZ, GXZ, PRXY, PRYZ, PRXZ, 11, 139.80e3 11, 10.93e3 11, 10.93e3 11, 3.92e3 11, 3.92e3 11, 3.92e3 11, 0.28 11, 0.28 11, 0.28

A detailed description of the different properties that can be defined is found in:
(// Command Reference // XIV. M Commands // MP)
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Section Definition
First we have to give a number to the section and say the type of section that will be defined:
Msect, 1, shell

Afterwards we have to provide some data of the section. In particular, we are interested in defining the staking sequence. This is, the thickness of the lamina, the material and its orientation:
secdata, 0.26, 11, 30
!Define thickness, material & orientation for layer i

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Section Definition
We can also define the position of the laminate relative to the shell geometry:
secoffset, MID
!Define thickness location (TOP - MID - BOT)

As happened with the other parameters defined, more information can be found in Ansys help, which can be found in:
(// Command Reference // XX. S Commands // SECDATA) (// Command Reference // XX. S Commands // SECOFFSET)

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Some Notes
The materials defined in a command file (for a particular shell part) can be used in other command files, without having to redefine them. Material properties are defined in the local shell direction. It is recommended to define the orientation axis of the shell in order to have the material correctly oriented. All commands described are basic APDL commands. A better description on how to define composite materials using ANSYS APDL can be found in:
E. Barbero Finite Element Analysis of Composite Materials (Composite Materials: Design and Analysis). CRC Press. ISBN: 978-1420054330

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Static Structural
After defining the boundary conditions, we have to include an APDL command in the Static Structural section, in order to be sure that Ansys uses the shell section defined.

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Static Structural
The lines to be included are the following:
fini /prep7 etcon,off fini /solu
!Exit current Module !Call the preprocessor !Disable ANSYS from changin any KEYOPTS !Exit the preprocessor !Call the Solve Module

It is important to include this command file as the last think defined in the Static Structural region because its last line sends the developed model to the solver. If some boundary conditions are defined after the command line, they may be not considered.
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Numerical Example
Define a rectangular shell structure with dimensions:

Note: All measures are in millimeters.

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Numerical Example
The boundary conditions applied are:

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Numerical Example
Solve three different laminates to study the interaction between the different deformation modes. The composites that have to be studied are: (02, 02, 902) (302, 02, 302) (302, 02, -302) The middle layers, written in green, are made of material 12. The rest of the layers are made of material 11. Each layer has a thickness of 0.26mm
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Numerical Example
The materials defined are:
!Material 11 MP, EX, MP, EY, MP, EZ, MP, GXY, MP, GYZ, MP, GXZ, MP, PRXY, MP, PRYZ, MP, PRXZ, - Def. of mechanical properties mat 11 11, 139.80e3 11, 10.93e3 11, 10.93e3 11, 3.92e3 11, 3.92e3 11, 3.92e3 11, 0.28 11, 0.28 11, 0.28

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Numerical Example
The materials defined are:
!Material 12 MP, EX, MP, EY, MP, EZ, MP, GXY, MP, GYZ, MP, GXZ, MP, PRXY, MP, PRYZ, MP, PRXZ, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, Def. of mechanical properties mat 12 5.00e3 5.00e3 5.00e3 2.08e3 2.08e3 2.08e3 0.20 0.20 0.20

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Numerical Example (2)

Reproduce the ply drop-off test using shell elements. In this case we will have to modify the geometry to divide the shell in two different regions. Each one with a different number of layers.
3 layers

6 layers

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Numerical Example (2)

The boundary conditions are:

With an imposed displacement of 0.5mm

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Numerical Example (2)

All layers are oriented in the direction of Xglobal and the material considered is mat 11 previously defined. The deformation obtained with the solid model for this same problem is:

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