Lecture5

NonlinearStabilization

ANSYSMechanical
BasicStructuralNonlinearities
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ChapterOverview
ThisLecturewillpresenttheuseofNonlinearStabilizationtosolveglobaland
localnonlinearbucklingproblems

ItisassumedthattheuserhasalreadycoveredLecture2
TheSpecifictopicsintroducedare:
A. Backgroundonunstablestructures
B. UnderstandingNonlinearStabilization
C. ControllingtheStabilizationForce
D. StabilizationInput
E. ReviewingResults
F. Workshop
ThecapabilitiesdescribedinthisChapteraregenerallyapplicabletoANSYS
Structural licensesandabove.

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A.BackgroundonUnstableStructures
Manystructuresrequireanevaluationoftheirstructuralstability.Thin
columns,compressionmembers,andvacuumtanksareallexamplesof
structureswherestabilityconsiderationsareimportant.
Theinstabilitycouldbeglobal(suchasasnapthrough)orlocal(suchasyielding
orbucklingataconcentratedloadorsupport).

Instabilityproblemsusuallyposeconvergencedifficultiesandthereforerequire
theapplicationofspecialnonlineartechniques.
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...BackgroundonUnstableStructures
Attheonsetofinstability(buckling)astructurewillhaveaverylargechangein
displacement{u}underessentiallynochangeintheload(beyondasmallload
perturbation).
F

Stable

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Unstable

B.UnderstandingNonlinearStabilization
Nonlinearstabilizationcanbeunderstoodasaddinganartificialdamperor
dashpotelementateachstructuralelementnode
Thesolvercalculatesadampingforce(fd)proportionaltotherelativepseudo
velocityofthetwonodesoftheartificialdashpotelement.
Thepseudovelocityiscalculatedasadisplacementincrementdividedbythetime
incrementofthesubstep

fd

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...UnderstandingNonlinearStabilization
Withthisdashpotmodelinview:
AnyDOFthattendstobeunstablehasalargedisplacementincrementcausing
alargedamping(stabilization)force;thisforce,inturn,reducesthe
displacementsattheDOFsothatstabilizationisachieved.
FortheDOFsthatarestable,thedashpotelementshavelittleeffectonthe
resultsbecausethedisplacementsandthestabilizationforcesaresmallrelative
tothephysicalforces.
Thecoefficientusedtocalculatethestabilizationforceisalsoreferredtoasthe
dampingfactor.
Althoughithasthesamephysicalmeaningandunitasphysicaldamping,itis
purelynumericalinnonlinearstabilization.

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C.ControllingtheStabilizationForce
TherearetwomethodsavailableinMechanical forcontrollingthestabilization
force
Energy
Dampingfactorcalculatedautomatically
Factorcanvaryfromelementtoelement.
Bestsuitedforlocalinstability(i.e.plasticity)

Damping
Userdefinesadampingfactordirectly.
Samefactorusedforallapplicableelements.
Recommendedwhenuserhasaspecificdamping
factorinmind.

Forchallengingnonlinearproblems,itissometimeshelpfultoemploybothmethods,
startingfirstwiththeEnergymethodandswitchingtotheDampingmethodina
subsequentrestart
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...ControllingtheStabilizationForce
EnergyMethod
EnergyDissipationRatio
Ratiooftheworkdonebystabilizationforcestothe
elementpotentialenergy.
Shouldbelargeenoughtocircumventthe
divergence,butsmallenoughtoavoidexcessive
stiffness.(Typicallybetween0and1.0)

Itisagoodpracticetoexaminetheenergiesafterthesolutionhascompleted
becausetheenergydissipationratioofthesolutioncouldbegreaterthanthe
ratioinitiallyspecified.

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D.StabilizationInput
Regardlessofwhichmethodisemployed,
userhasgeneraloptionsforhowtoapply
thestabilizationforce
ConstantOption:Maintainsthedamping
factorasanunchangedconstantduringeach
substep ofaloadstep.
ReducedOption:Reducesthedampingfactor
linearlytozeroattheendofaloadstep.

Althoughtheconstantoptionworkswellinmostcases,convergence
difficultiesmayoccurifstabilizationissuddenlydeactivatedina
subsequentloadstep.Thiscanhavetheeffectofastepchangeinloading.
Insuchacase,usethereducedoption.

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...StabilizationInput
Therearealsothreeactivationoptionsfor
controllingstabilizationforthefirstsubstep
- NO:Stabilizationisnotactivated(Default)
- ONNONCONVERGENCE:ActivateStabilizationonly
whenmintimeincrementisreachedandtheanalysis
hasstillnotconverged
- YES:ActivateStabilizationregardlessoftime
incrementforfirstsubstep.

Inmostwellposedproblems,nostabilizationisnecessaryatfirstsubstep
becausethestructureisinitiallystable,assumingthetimeincrementis
reasonable.
Stabilizationisdesignedtoovercomephysicalinstabilities(i.e.properly
constrainedmodelsthatfailduetobucklingand/orlocalizedmaterial
yielding).Itwillnotresolvenumericalinstabilitiesassociatedwithill
conditionedmatrices(poorlyconstrainedstructures).
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...StabilizationInput
Inaddition,usercanreceivefeedbackon
magnitudeofStabilizationForcesrelativetothe
overallimbalanceforces
- WhentheL2normofthestabilizationforceexceeds
theL2normoftheinternalforcemultipliedbythe
stabilizationforcecoefficient,theSolverissuesa
messagedisplayingboththestabilizationforcenorm
andtheinternalforcenorm.RefertoSection
15.13.2ofTheoryManualfordetaileddescriptionof
L2normcalculations.
- Defaultis0.2(=20%)
- Themessageisintendedtoalertusertothe
presenceofanexcessivestabilizationforceinthe
run.
- Usercanchoosetotightenorloosenthistolerance
dependingontheapplication

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E.ReviewingResults
WhenStabilizationhasbeenactivated,itisalwaysagoodpracticetodetermine
theextentofitsinfluenceonresultsaccuracy
OnewaytodothisistopostprocesstheStrainEnergyofthesystemandcompareit
totheStabilizationEnergycreatedbytheartificialdampingintroducedtobring
aboutconvergence

Asageneralrule,thestabilizationenergyshouldbesmall(<<10%ofstrainenergy)in
comparison
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...ReviewingResults
Itisalsohelpfultoexaminethereactionforcesandmomentstogainan
understandingofhowmuchStabilizationforcesareintroducingfictitiousloads
intomodel

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Summary
Manystructuresrequireanevaluationoftheirstructuralstability.
Instabilityproblemsusuallyposeconvergencedifficultiesandtherefore
requiretheapplicationofspecialnonlineartechniques.
Nonlinearstabilizationcanbeunderstoodasaddinganartificialdamperor
dashpotelementateachstructuralelementnode
TherearetwomethodsavailableinWBMechanicalforcontrollingthe
stabilizationforce,EnergyandDamping.
WhenStabilizationhasbeenactivated,itisalwaysagoodpracticeto
determinetheextentofitsinfluenceonresultsaccuracybypostprocessing
thestabilizationenergyandcomparingwithstrainenergyaswellas
examiningtheforceandmomentreactions.

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...Workshop
PleaserefertoyourWorkshopSupplementforinstructionson:
W5A PostBuckling withStabilization

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