2/9/2015

FEMforBeams(FiniteElementMethod)Part2

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FEMforBeams(FiniteElementMethod)Part2
WorkedExamples
Example5.1:Auniformcantileverbeamsubjectedtoadownwardforce
ConsiderthecantileverbeamasshowninFigure5.2.Thebeamisfixedatoneend,andithasa
uniformcrosssectionalareaasshown.ThebeamundergoesstaticdeflectionbyadownwardloadofP
=1000Nappliedatthefreeend.Thedimensionsofthebeamareshowninthefigure,andthebeamis
madeofaluminiumwhosepropertiesareshowninTable5.1.
Tomakeclearthestepsinvolvedinsolvingthissimpleexample,wefirstusedjustonebeamelement
tosolveforthedeflection.ThebeamelementwouldhavedegreesoffreedomasshowninFigure5.1.
Step1:ObtainingtheelementmatricesThefirststepinformulatingthefiniteelementequationsisto
formtheelementmatricesand,inthiscase,beingtheonlyelementused,theelementmatricesare
actuallytheglobalfiniteelementmatrices,sincenoassemblyisrequired.Theshapefunctionsforthe
fourdegreesoffreedomaregiveninEq.(5.14).Theelementstiffnessmatrixcanbeobtainedusing
Eq.(5.21).Notethatasthisisastaticproblem,themassmatrixisnotrequiredhere.Thesecond
momentofareaofthecrosssectionalarea

Figure5.2.Cantileverbeamunderstaticload.Table5.1.Materialpropertiesofaluminium
Youngsmodulus,EGPa Poissonsratio,v
69.0

0.33

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aboutthezaxiscanbegivenas

Sinceonlyoneelementisused,thestiffnessmatrixofthebeamisthusthesameastheelement
stiffnessmatrix:

Thefiniteelementequationbecomes

Notethat,atnode1,thebeamisclamped.Therefore,theshearforceandmomentatthisnodeshould
bethereactionforceandmoment,whichareunknownsbeforetheFEMequationissolvedforthe
displacements.TosolveEq.(5.27),weneedtoimposethedisplacementboundaryconditionatthe
clampednode.
Step2:ApplyingboundaryconditionsThebeamisfixedorclampedatoneend.Thisimpliesthatat
thatend,thedeflection,vx,andtheslope,,arebothequaltozero:

Theimpositionoftheabovedisplacementboundaryconditionleadstotheremovalofthefirstand
secondrowsandcolumnsofthestiffnessmatrix:
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Thereducedstiffnessmatrixbecomesa2x2matrixof

Thefiniteelementequation,aftertheimpositionofthedisplacementcondition,isthus

where

andtheforcevectorFisgivenas

Notethat,althoughwedonotknowthereactionshearforceQ1andthemomentM1,itdoesnot
affectoursolvingoftheFEMequation,becauseweknowV1and1instead.Thisallowsusto
removetheunknownsofQ1andM1fromtheoriginalFEMequation.Wewillcomebacktocalculate
theunknownsofQ1andM1,afterwehavesolvedtheFEMequationsforallthedisplacements
(deflectionsandrotations).
Step3:SolvingtheFEmatrixequationThelaststepinthissimpleexamplewouldbetosolveEq.
(5.31)toobtainv2and2.Inthiscase,Eq.(5.31)isactuallytwosimultaneousequationsinvolving
twounknowns,andcanbeeasilysolvedmanually.Ofcourse,whenwehavemoreunknownsor
degreesoffreedom,somenumericalmethodsofsolvingthematrixequationmightberequired.The
solutiontoEq.(5.31)is

Afterv2and2havebeenobtained,theyaresubstitutedbackintothefirsttwoequationsofEq.
(5.27)toobtainthereactionshearforceatnode1:
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andthereactionmomentatnode1:

Thiscompletesthesolutionprocessofthisproblem.
Notethatthissolutionisexactlythesameastheanalyticalsolution.Weagainobservethe
reproductionfeatureoftheFEMthatwasrevealedinExample4.1.Inthiscase,itisbecausetheexact
solutionofthedeflectionforthecantileverthinbeamisathirdorderpolynomial,whichcanbe
obtainedeasilybysolvingthestrongformofthesystemequationofbeamgivenbyEq.(5.59)withfy
=0.Ontheotherhand,theshapefunctionsusedinourFEManalysisarealsothirdorderpolynomials
(seeEq.(5.14)orEq.(5.2)).Therefore,theexactsolutionoftheproblemisincludedinthesetof
assumeddeflections.TheFEMbasedonHamiltonsprinciplehasindeedreproducedtheexact
solution.Thisis,ofcourse,alsotrueifweweretocalculatethedeflectionatanywhereelseotherthan
thenodes.Forexample,tocomputethedeflectionatthecentreofthebeam,wecanuseEq.(5.12)
withx=0.25,orinthenaturalcoordinatesystem,=0,andsubstitutingthevaluescalculatedatthe
nodes:

Tocalculatetherotationatthecentreofthebeam,thederivativesoftheshapefunctionsareusedas
follows:

NotethatinobtainingdN/dxabove,thechainruleofdifferentiationisusedtogetherwiththe
relationshipbetweenxandasdepictedinEq.(5.1).

CaseStudy:ResonantFrequenciesofMicroResonant
Transducer
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Makingmachinesassmallasinsects,orevensmaller,hasbeenadreamofscientistsformany
years.Madepossiblebypresentlithographictechniques,suchmicrosystemsarenowbeingproduced
andappliedinourdailylives.Suchmachinesarecalledmicroelectromechanicalsystems(MEMS),
usuallycomposedofmechanicalandelectricaldevices.TherearemanyMEMSdevices,frommicro
actuatorsandsensorstomicrofluidicdevices,beingdesignedandmanufacturedtoday.The
technologyhasverywideapplicationsincommunication,medical,aerospace,robotics,andsoon.
Oneofthemostcommonmicroelectromechanical(MEMS)devicesistheresonanttransducer.
Resonanttransducersconvertexternallyinducedbeamstrainintoabeamresonantfrequencychange.
Thischangeinresonantfrequencyisthentypicallydetectedbyimplantedpiezoresistorsoroptical
techniques.Suchresonanttransducersareusedforthemeasurementofpressure,acceleration,strain,
vibration,andsoon.Figure5.3showsamicrographofamicropolysiliconresonantmicrobeam
transducer.

Figure5.3.Resonantmicrobeamstraintransducer

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Figure5.4.Bridgeinamicroresonanttransducer.
Figure5.3showsanoverallviewofthetransducer,buttheprincipleoftheresonanttransducer
actuallyliesintheclampedclampedbridgeontopofamembrane.Thisbridgeisactuallylocatedat
thecentreofthemicrograph.Figure5.4showsaschematicsideviewofthebridgestructure.The
resonantfrequencyofthebridgeisrelatedtotheforceappliedtoit(betweenanchorpoints),its
materialproperties,crosssectionalareaandlength.Whenthemembranedeforms,forexample,dueto
achangeinpressure,theforceappliedtothebridgealsochanges,resultinginachangeintheresonant
frequencyofthebridge.
Itisthusimportanttoanalysetheresonantfrequencyofthisbridgestructureinthedesignofthe
resonanttransducer.WeusethebeamelementinthesoftwareABAQUStosolveforthefirstthree
resonantfrequenciesofthebridge.Thedimensionsoftheclampedclampedbridgestructureshownin
Figure5.5areusedtomodelabridgeinamicroresonanttransducer.Thematerialpropertiesof
polysilicon,ofwhichtheresonanttransducerisnormallymade,areshowninTable5.2.

Figure5.5.Geometricaldimensionsofclampedclampedbridge.
Table5.2.Elasticpropertiesofpolysilicon

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YoungsModulus,E 169GPa
Poissonsratio,

0.262

Density,

2300kgm3

Figure5.6.Tenelementmeshofclampedclampedbridge.

Modelling
Themodellingofthebridgeisdoneusingonedimensionalbeamelementsdevelopedinthistopic.
Thebeamisassumedtobeclampedattwoendsofthebeam.Themeshingofthestructureshouldnot
poseanydifficulty,butwhatisimportanthereisthechoiceofhowmanyelementstousetogive
sufficientaccuracy.Becausetheexactsolutionoffreevibrationmodesofthebeamisnolongerofa
polynomialtype,theFEMwillnotbeabletoproducetheexactsolution,butanapproximated
solution.Onenaturallybecomesconcernedwithwhethertheresultsconvergeandwhethertheyare
accurate.

Tostart,thefirstanalysiswillmeshthebeamuniformlyintotentwonodalbeamelements,as
showninFigure5.6.ThissimplemeshwillservetoshowclearlythestepsusedinABAQUS.Refined
uniformmeshesof20,40and60elementswillthenbeusedtochecktheaccuracyoftheresults
obtained.Thisisasimplifiedwayofperformingwhatiscommonlyknownasaconvergencetest.
Rememberthatusuallythegreaterthenumberofelements,thegreatertheaccuracy.However,we
cantsimplyuseasmanyelementsaspossibleallthetime,since,thereisusuallyalimittothe
computerresourcesavailable.Hence,convergencetestsarecarriedouttodeterminetheoptimum
numberofelementsornodestobeusedforacertainproblem.Whatismeantbyoptimummeansthe
leastnumberofelementsornodestoyieldadesiredaccuracywithintheacceptabletolerance.

ABAQUSInputFile
TheABAQUSinputfilefortheabovedescribedfiniteelementmodelisshownbelow.Intheearly
days,theanalysthadtowritethesecardsmanually,butnowitisgeneratedbythepreprocessorsof
FEMpackages.UnderstandingtheinputfileisveryimportantbothforundersandingtheFEMandto
effectivelyusetheFEMpackages.Thetextboxestotherightoftheinputfilearenotpartoftheinput
file,butexplainwhatthesectionsofthefilemeant.

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TheinputfileaboveshowshowabasicABAQUSinputfileissetup.Notethatalltheinputfile
doesisprovidetheinformationnecessarysothattheprogramcanutilizethemtoformulateandsolve
thefiniteelementequations.Itmayalsobenoticedthatintheinputfile,thereisnomentionofthe
unitsofmeasurementused.Thisimpliesthattheunitsmustdefinitelybeconsistentthroughoutthe
inputfileinalltheinformationprovided.Forexample,ifthecoordinatevaluesofthenodesarein
micrometres,theunitsforothervaluesliketheYoungsmodulus,density,forcesandsoonmustalso
undergothenecessaryconversionsinordertobeconsistent,beforetheyarekeyedintothe
preprocessorofABAQUS.Itisnotedthatinthiscasestudy,alltheunitsareconvertedinto
micrometrestobeconsistentwiththegeometricaldimensions,ascanbeseenfromthevaluesof
Youngsmodulusanddensity.Thisisthecaseformostfiniteelementsoftware,andmanytimes,
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errorsinanalysisoccurduetonegligenceinensuringtheunitsconsistency.
Nextpost:FEMforBeams(FiniteElementMethod)Part3
Previouspost:FEMforBeams(FiniteElementMethod)Part1
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RelatedLinks
TheFiniteElementMethod
ComputationalModelling(FiniteElementMethod)
IntroductiontoMechanicsforSolidsandStructures(FiniteElementMethod)Part1
IntroductiontoMechanicsforSolidsandStructures(FiniteElementMethod)Part2
IntroductiontoMechanicsforSolidsandStructures(FiniteElementMethod)Part3
FundamentalsforFiniteElementMethodPart1

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